Lobster War: The Fight Over the World’s Richest Fishing Grounds
Directors: David Abel & Andy Laub
Winner of “Best New England Film” at 2018 Mystic Film Festival
Lobster War explores the conflict between the United States and Canada over waters that both countries have claimed since the end of the Revolutionary War. Along a section of what has always been a peaceful border, a dispute over 277 square miles of increasingly valuable waters known as the Gray Zone threatens to shatter the tranquility between the neighbors.
This particular area has traditionally been fished by U.S. lobstermen, but as the Gulf of Maine has warmed faster than nearly any other body of water on the planet, the previously modest lobster population has surged. As a result, Canadians have begun to assert their sovereignty in the area, fighting with Americans to claim the bounty. Both countries now allow their lobstermen to fish there, though they each claim exclusive ownership of the waters.
There have been death threats on both sides of the watery divide, as lobstermen accuse each other of sabotaging lines, stealing gear, and setting traps atop those already in the water.
Released in 2019
74 minutes
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