BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 23, 2024
With nearly 3 million lobster traps and miles of rope in the waters off the coast of Maine, it felt inevitable that a whale would die after getting entangled in this gear. It has. Without clear data on where the whales are, NOAA has proposed new gear requirements and some seasonal closures on all lobstermen. This is too broad and too simplistic an approach. Maine’s congressional delegation successfully added a provision to a spending bill that prohibits new federal restrictions on lobster fishing until 2029. Like NOAA’s sweeping rules, this prohibition is too broad, especially in light of new examples of the risks lobster rope can pose to right whales. Surely smart people can figure out how lobsters can be caught without entangling right whales. ~ Susan Young