THE GUARDIAN • December 11, 2022
President Macron of France walked into a fishing war earlier this month when he and 200 other guests were treated at the White House to butter-poached Maine lobster. The dispute between Maine’s $1bn lobster industry, which employs more than 10,000 lobstermen, the White House and new protections issued by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has deep roots. The right whale population has dropped from 500 a decade ago while Maine’s lobster industry has boomed. The industry disputes that its vertical lines attached to buoys are to blame. According to Michael Moore at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the issue comes down to consumerism. At one time, whales were hunted for oil and baleen; now they are harmed by our demand for goods. “It’s all driven by climate change and the direct impact of the things we do to extract the resources and things we want.”