Getting a boost from a six-year pause on some environmental laws — The case of Maine lobstermen and women who voted for it
A provision that puts a six-year pause on some environmental regulations has the support of Maine’s congressional delegation and could give a boost to the lobstermen and women.
Lobster fishers have already changed their ways over the years, using fewer lines and weaker ropes to lay their traps in order to protect the right whales from becoming entangled.
The only documented injury from lobster gear has been in 2004, a year in which there have never been deaths traced back to the lobster industry.
The federal regulations were going to be finalized by the year 2041. But the federal spending bill, which is expected to pass Congress by the end of Friday, would leave less stringent regulations in place until December 31, 2028, according to the bill text.
If the provision wasn’t in place, Maine’s industry could have been facing a complete shutdown and it would have had rippling effects across the state.
But Erica Fuller, senior attorney with the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation, said after the delay was announced that members of Congress who voted for it had “the blood of a magnificent endangered species on their hands.
The Conversation Law Foundation, along with other environmental groups, won a federal court case earlier this year in favor of stronger fishing regulations.
Lobsterman Curt Brown, the North Atlantic Right Whale, and its Threats to the Future. Maine Lobster Marketing and Fisheries in Portland, Maine
Maine lobster may be sold without those badges of approval. Whole Foods stopped buying Maine lobster last month.
“As part of our commitment to responsible sourcing, we only sell wild-caught seafood from fisheries that are certified by the Marine Stewardship Council or rated either ‘Green’ or ‘Yellow’ by the MBA Seafood Watch program,” the company said in a statement.
PORTLAND, Maine — 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.
“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.
The lobster industry had been given some good news a day earlier, but that didn’t stop them from fighting the protection of the North Atlantic right whale.
The North Atlantic Right whale is in danger of extinction if the delay isn’t stopped.
Are there any chances that the right whale will be saved in 2028? Yeah, sure,” said Brett Hartl of the Center for Biological Diversity. “It maybe was a 50-50 proposition before. Now it’s like 95 percent to 5 percent against.”
The right whales in the North Atlantic were hunted nearly to extinction more than a century ago. Biologists say that the greatest threats to the planet are collision with ships and fishing rope. The entire Atlantic coastline is covered by the territory of the migratory whales, from their calving grounds along the Florida and Georgia coast to off of New England and the Canada.
Killing Right Whales in Endangered Species: Maine Lobsters are the Second-largest Fishery in the US
Groups such as the Center for Biological Diversity and the Conservation Law Foundation have used the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammals Protection Act to force federal regulators to impose stricter regulations on the fishing industry.
According to the most recent federal data, the lobster industry is the second-largest fishery in the US in terms of economic value. Maine lobstermen hauled in more than 100 million pounds of the crustaceans in 2021 valued at more than $725 million.
“It merely pauses that economic death sentence until we have time to know how to navigate the solution and what the real definition of the problem is,” said Sen. Angus King, an independent.
The science is clear that Humans are killing right whales faster than they can reproduce, and that a leading cause is entanglement in lobster gear.
“We’re the largest fixed gear fishery on the East Coast,” Brown said. We wouldn’t know if the whales were being killed. Someone would be seeing it and it would be documented. We’re not seeing it.