Posted on Jan 4, 2023
Maine lobster industry wins reprieve but environmentalists say whales will die
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https://www.npr.org/2023/01/04/ [login to see] /maine-lobster-industry-wins-reprieve-but-environmentalists-say-whales-will-die
Lobsterman Curt Brown had already logged a full day on the water by the time he pulled up to a fishing wharf just blocks from downtown Portland restaurants bustling with lunchtime diners.
The 250 to 300 pounds of lobster he had hauled up from the cold Maine waters could land on a plate just up the street – or in a restaurant on the other side of the globe. And on this chilly December day, Brown was feeling more hopeful about the prospects for Maine's iconic lobster industry.
"I think our industry, for the first time in a long time, can see a ray of sunshine and feel optimistic that the hard work we have been doing is being recognized," Brown said.
Just a day earlier, the lobster industry had received welcome news in the fishery's years-long battle with environmental groups over protections for the endangered North Atlantic right whale.
The state's congressional delegation – which has locked arms with Maine's billion-dollar lobster industry – had pulled off a procedural end-run by inserting a 6-year delay on new federal fishing regulations into a $1.7 trillion spending bill.
Lobsterman Curt Brown had already logged a full day on the water by the time he pulled up to a fishing wharf just blocks from downtown Portland restaurants bustling with lunchtime diners.
The 250 to 300 pounds of lobster he had hauled up from the cold Maine waters could land on a plate just up the street – or in a restaurant on the other side of the globe. And on this chilly December day, Brown was feeling more hopeful about the prospects for Maine's iconic lobster industry.
"I think our industry, for the first time in a long time, can see a ray of sunshine and feel optimistic that the hard work we have been doing is being recognized," Brown said.
Just a day earlier, the lobster industry had received welcome news in the fishery's years-long battle with environmental groups over protections for the endangered North Atlantic right whale.
The state's congressional delegation – which has locked arms with Maine's billion-dollar lobster industry – had pulled off a procedural end-run by inserting a 6-year delay on new federal fishing regulations into a $1.7 trillion spending bill.
Maine lobster industry wins reprieve but environmentalists say whales will die
Posted from npr.org
State of Maine
Environment
Food/Chow
Wildlife
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 4
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel good day Brother William, always informational and of the most interesting. Thanks for sharing, have a blessed day!
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."The science is clear: Humans are killing right whales faster than they can reproduce, and entanglement in lobster gear is a leading cause," Fuller said.
While the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lists entanglement in fishing gear as a primary cause of mortality and injury among right whales, there has never been a death traced back to the Maine lobster industry and only one documented injury from lobster gear since 2004.
But conservationists and scientists point out that injuries and deaths often can't be traced to any particular fishery.
According to NOAA statistics, of the 34 North Atlantic right whales known to have died between 2017 and 2022, nine were attributed to entanglements in fishing gear, 11 to collisions with ships and 14 were of unknown origin.
Back on the Portland waterfront, lobsterman Curt Brown contends that his industry has done more to protect whales by switching to break-away rope, sinking rope and more traps per line. Brown, who is also a marine biologist for a lobster retailer, added that he's never seen a right whale during his 30 years of lobstering.
"We are the largest fixed-gear fishery on the East Coast," Brown said. "If we were entangling right whales, we would know. Someone would be seeing it and it would be documented. And we're just not seeing it."
..."The science is clear: Humans are killing right whales faster than they can reproduce, and entanglement in lobster gear is a leading cause," Fuller said.
While the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lists entanglement in fishing gear as a primary cause of mortality and injury among right whales, there has never been a death traced back to the Maine lobster industry and only one documented injury from lobster gear since 2004.
But conservationists and scientists point out that injuries and deaths often can't be traced to any particular fishery.
According to NOAA statistics, of the 34 North Atlantic right whales known to have died between 2017 and 2022, nine were attributed to entanglements in fishing gear, 11 to collisions with ships and 14 were of unknown origin.
Back on the Portland waterfront, lobsterman Curt Brown contends that his industry has done more to protect whales by switching to break-away rope, sinking rope and more traps per line. Brown, who is also a marine biologist for a lobster retailer, added that he's never seen a right whale during his 30 years of lobstering.
"We are the largest fixed-gear fishery on the East Coast," Brown said. "If we were entangling right whales, we would know. Someone would be seeing it and it would be documented. And we're just not seeing it."
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Glad for the hard working fishermen, I've been out there on the ocean waters, hard but fun.
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