By Justin Maderia and Travis Maderia
The global lobster industry sits at a crossroads, grappling with the rising demand for sustainable seafood and a growing call for transparency across supply chains. In this piece, Justin and Travis Maderia examine the lessons learned from decades in the seafood business and offer a new blueprint: a model where traceability, fairness, and direct trade aren’t just differentiators, but the new industry standard.
For centuries, lobster has moved through complex networks of brokers, middlemen, and processors before reaching the dinner table. While this legacy supply chain has produced a booming international trade, it has also created significant inefficiencies and left both ends of the market—fishermen and consumers—vulnerable to price manipulation, opacity, and mistrust.
As founders of Lobsterboys, a direct-to-consumer seafood company based in the United States, we’ve seen firsthand how the traditional model often fails the very people it’s meant to serve. Fishermen work tirelessly for irregular and often unfair wages, while consumers pay premium prices for seafood with little insight into its origin, quality, or sustainability.
The global lobster industry is estimated to exceed $8.8 billion annually, with Canada and the U.S. together responsible for over 90% of global supply. Yet, despite its size, the industry has lagged in adopting modern supply chain standards that are common in other food categories. With overfishing, climate change, and consumer consciousness reshaping the food landscape, the lobster industry can no longer afford to operate on business-as-usual terms.
The case for transparency in seafood is an economic and ethical imperative. According to a 2024 survey by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and NielsenIQ, 76% of U.S. grocery shoppers consider transparent product information from brands and manufacturers to be important, up from 69% in 2018. A 2024 study by Omnivore Agency reports that 93% of consumers find it important to know what’s in their food and how it’s made, with 67% seeking comprehensive information about the food they buy.
Consumers increasingly want to know not just what they’re eating, but how it got to their plate. That includes everything from how the lobster was caught, to whether the fishermen were paid fairly, and whether the product was handled and transported responsibly.
Without transparency, consumers are left to navigate a confusing array of mislabeled products (a well-documented issue in shrimp and other seafood), and fishermen often have no visibility into where their catch goes or who ultimately benefits. Greater transparency can lead to more trust, better pricing, and improved standards across the board.
Traceability Is the Next Frontier —the ability to track a product from its source to the end consumer—is key to making transparency real. In the lobster industry, implementing traceable systems can help:
- Prevent fraud and mislabeling
- Ensure seafood meets sustainability and safety standards
- Verify fair labor practices
- Promote consumer confidence
Seafood mislabeling remains a major issue. A 2024 meta-analysis published in Food Control examined 35 studies and found an overall mislabeling rate of 39% for seafood in the U.S., with species substitution being the most common form at 26%. The study also revealed higher mislabeling rates in restaurants (55.4%) compared to grocery stores (26.2%).
Technologies like blockchain, QR codes, and digital catch documentation are already being tested in pilot programs across fisheries. In 2019, the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) launched a set of standards to help companies build interoperable, verifiable seafood traceability systems. When used properly, these tools can link a single lobster back to the boat and trap it came from, creating an unbroken chain of accountability. This level of traceability could become the baseline expectation in the next five years.
Toward a Fairer System. Technology alone won’t solve the problem. We need a more profound cultural shift—one that centers on the people who bring seafood to market and those who enjoy it at home.
Fair Trade programs have made inroads in some fisheries, but more work is needed to ensure that coastal communities aren’t left behind. A 2021 report by Fair Trade USA found that fishermen involved in Fair Trade Certified programs reported an average 10% increase in income. As intermediaries are removed from the supply chain, more value can be returned directly to fishing communities.
At Lobsterboys, our model is simple: we buy directly from licensed fishermen in both Canada and the U.S., then deliver directly to American consumers, cutting out the unnecessary middlemen. This approach lets us pay our partners more and offer our customers better quality and transparency, often at a lower final cost.
Rebuilding Trust in Seafood. The seafood industry has suffered from decades of mistrust, due in part to lack of accountability, inconsistent standards, and greenwashing by major corporations. But there is a growing movement of consumers and producers who want better.
To rebuild trust, we need:
- Public-private partnerships that support traceable and transparent seafood
- Certification systems with teeth, not just logos
- Platforms that educate consumers on how to evaluate seafood choices
- Incentives for companies that uphold fair pricing models
A Better Lobster Industry Is Possible
This is not just a story about lobster. It’s about what’s possible when we rethink antiquated systems. If we can create a supply chain that’s more transparent, traceable, and fair for one of the most beloved seafood items in the world, we can do it across the industry.
The future of seafood depends on our willingness to demand more and build better. The tide is turning—and with it comes the opportunity to leave the old ways behind and build something truly sustainable.
About the Authors
Justin Maderia and Travis Maderia are co-founders of Lobsterboys, a direct-to-consumer live lobster company based in the United States. Together, as fourth-generation lobster fishermen, they are passionate advocates for transparency, sustainability, and fairness in the seafood industry, drawing on decades of experience in entrepreneurship, fishing communities, and food supply chains.
