VIDEO: Whales being Ensnared in Lobster Net causing their numbers to DIMINSH!
- 5 years ago
The amount of gear the East Coast lobster fishery puts in the water must be reduced in order to protect a dwindling species of large whale, a federal government team recommended on Friday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team wrapped up several days of discussion on Friday about ways to reduce injuries and deaths caused when North Atlantic right whales get entangled in fishing gear.
In this decade, the number of North Atlantic right whales has decreased by the dozens to about 411 today.
The team issued its recommendations to the federal government on Friday that call for a reduction of vertical trap lines — which can ensnare whales — by up to 50% in some areas.
The team also recommended the use of lines that break more easily and allow the giant whales a chance to escape.
The recommendations must now go through an approval process that could be contentious.
Lobster fishing groups closely monitored the team’s discussions and said rule changes need to protect the fishing industry, too. Conservation groups have pushed for stricter new rules.
“I’m still trying to digest what this means for the Maine fishery,” said Kristan Porter, president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association and a member of the take reduction team. “It’s about figuring out what’s next for the fishery.”
The U.S. lobster fishery, based mostly in Maine, is in the midst of a multiyear boom in catch, at a time when domestic and international interest in lobster is high, resulting in strong prices.
Maine fishermen caught nearly 120 million pounds of lobster last year, and have topped 100 million every year since 2011 after never doing so in the past.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team wrapped up several days of discussion on Friday about ways to reduce injuries and deaths caused when North Atlantic right whales get entangled in fishing gear.
In this decade, the number of North Atlantic right whales has decreased by the dozens to about 411 today.
The team issued its recommendations to the federal government on Friday that call for a reduction of vertical trap lines — which can ensnare whales — by up to 50% in some areas.
The team also recommended the use of lines that break more easily and allow the giant whales a chance to escape.
The recommendations must now go through an approval process that could be contentious.
Lobster fishing groups closely monitored the team’s discussions and said rule changes need to protect the fishing industry, too. Conservation groups have pushed for stricter new rules.
“I’m still trying to digest what this means for the Maine fishery,” said Kristan Porter, president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association and a member of the take reduction team. “It’s about figuring out what’s next for the fishery.”
The U.S. lobster fishery, based mostly in Maine, is in the midst of a multiyear boom in catch, at a time when domestic and international interest in lobster is high, resulting in strong prices.
Maine fishermen caught nearly 120 million pounds of lobster last year, and have topped 100 million every year since 2011 after never doing so in the past.