Billion Egg Challenge Enters its Final Month Thank you to all who have participated in and supported MLA’s Billion Egg Challenge this summer. We’ve got just under a month to go and are over half way to our goal! Thank you to the more than 175 lobstermen who have joined the challenge to help us protect one billion lobster eggs, a huge investment in our future. Over 800 public supporters are watching to see if we meet our goal and are learning first-hand about Maine’s sustainable practices....

Poppy Holden, 8, of South Portland, has a student lobster license and ten traps. She also has an able-bodied crew: her sister Banks, 6, her other sister Hadley, 4, and her father, Luke Holden, age 42, founder of Luke’s Lobster. She fishes from the aptly named Sea Sisters, a 16-foot Carolina skiff, and sells her catch at Luke’s Lobster’s Portland Pier, operated by her grandfather Jeff Holden. Photos courtesy of L. Holden You can say that lobstering runs in the family like a steady stream....

This summer Maine lobstermen are teaming up to tackle a big goal: protecting one billion lobster eggs in the Gulf of Maine. In just the first month, more than 170 lobstermen joined the Billion Egg Challenge, a friendly competition among three coastal teams to see who can V-notch the most egg-bearing female lobsters and return them safely to the sea by the end of September. The public is getting in on the fun, too. More than 660 supporters have already picked a team to cheer on — and entered...