MOUNT DESERT ISLANDER • June 12, 2020
President Donald Trump came to Maine last Friday. At the Bangor airport he met with Maine fisheries representatives. Trump’s question to them was: “Our conservation rules, are they overly tough, are they ridiculous?” He put Paul LePage in charge of a task force to “figure it out.” He promised a tariff on imported cars that will be “equivalent plus” until tariffs on lobster are dropped. LePage said lobster sales to China “went from 600,000 pounds to less than 100,000 pounds.” Not quite. They went from 12 million pounds to 2.2 million over a 6-month period in 2019 compared to 2018. Trump signed a proclamation reopening the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the coast of Massachusetts to commercial fishing. The gathering approved the action despite the fact that no Maine boats fish that particular area.