Kennebunk, Maine, U.S.A.-based Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) and the Maine Lobster Community Alliance (MLCA) launched the “Billion Egg Challenge” statewide competition to see which team of lobstermen can V-notch the most lobsters across three months.
V-notching is a widely used conservation practice in lobstering, where female egg-bearing lobsters are notched with a “V” on the tail flipper and then released back into the ocean. It is then illegal to catch and keep a V-notched lobster, and the practice helps conserve egg-bearing lobsters on the ocean floor to continue reproducing.
Now, MLCA and MLA created a joint campaign to challenge three lobsterman fleets, led by MLA board members as captains of each regional team, to V-notch and count as many lobsters across a three-month span as possible; in Southern Maine, Down East Maine, and Midcoast Maine.
“V-notching is about tradition, conservation, and heritage,” MLA Chairman and Downeast Tail Pinchers co-captain Sonny Beal said in a release. “I’ve taught my boys that every V-notched lobster is an investment in the future of Maine’s lobster fishery. I’m proud that my son and I are both part of this competition.”
The 2026 teams are the Downeast Tail Pinchers, captained by Beal and Jacob Knowles; the Midcoast Notchmen, captained by Brian Billings and John Tripp; and the Southern Maine Future Catch, captained by Christian LaMontagne and Chris Welch. Other lobstermen and students can also join regional teams after signing up through the competition’s page and getting a custom “Billion Egg Challenge V-notch jar” to save notches. Totals per team are reported weekly and sent to the live leaderboard.
"Last year we stuck our toe in the water and we did a V-notch campaign,” MLA Executive Director Patrice McCannon said. “We developed a website called v-notch.info and got all the information out. We sent posters out to lobstermen as just a push to get people thinking about V-notching, taking it seriously, making sure that they're doing it. We got feedback from the state that they were seeing their results on the water, so this year we wanted to build on that. We were trying to figure out how to really connect with the community and make it fun because it's a regulatory measure and that can get very heavy.”
McCarron added that the 2025 stock assessment accounted for about 201 million lobsters on the ocean floor, with an intended goal of 229 million. A lobster lays about 10,000 eggs at a time, and each egg laid has a 1 percent chance of survival, she said. MLA and MLCA landed on a goal of one billion eggs in the next three months, because that would get the overall projected goal of 229 million lobsters on the floor to halfway, at 211 million.
"It’s a good lofty target. It sounds big, so we're hoping that we'll catch a lot of lobstermen's attention; we don't want to embarrass ourselves,” McCarron said. “It's serious; we're saving lobsters, we're keeping the stock healthy, but we really want it to be fun and something that guys can challenge each other and check the leaderboard each week and really feel proud of what they're doing and have fun doing it.”
Prizes for winners include bragging rights in the form of a “mother notcher” tool, McCarron said, which is a large sized V-notch tool that will live on the captain’s boat of the winning team. Eager fans can pick a favorite team to support and be entered for a chance to win free lobster for an entire year, as well as a gift basket of products and money towards local Maine lobster establishments.
