PORTLAND, Maine -- Gerry Cushman has seen Maine's iconic lobster industry survive numerous threats in his three decades on the water, but the latest challenge -- which might sound tiny -- could be the biggest one yet.

Lobster fishing is a game of inches, and the number of inches is about to change. Fishing regulators are instituting a new rule that lobster fishermen must abide by stricter minimum sizes for crustaceans they harvest.

The impending change might be only 1/16th of an inch, but it will make a huge difference for fishermen when the fishery is already facing major threats from climate change and new rules designed to protect whales, numerous lobster fishers told The Associated Press.

Interstate fishery regulators, however, say the change is necessary to preserve the future of the lobster population off New England as the species shifts farther north with warming waters.