MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 22, 2023
Conservationists say entanglement in lobster lines is a top threat to the right whale, hastening the chance the critically endangered animal will go extinct. Commercial fishermen blame ship strikes and climate change for the whales’ decline. As with related questions of culinary conscience – whether to eat eggs from caged chickens, beef from ranches that are destroying the Amazon rainforest, or almond milk from thirsty trees in drought-stricken California – the lobster-whale debate raises an ethical dilemma for eaters: Should restaurants be serving Maine lobster, fishmongers be selling it and ordinary people be cracking into the crustacean? According to Maine chefs, restaurateurs, fishmongers and diners, the answer is: yes.