SUN JOURNAL • March 30, 2021
When Ellen Bunker of Matinicus Island is lobstering, she typically finds balloons floating in the ocean, sometimes one or two groups of them all tied together. “Balloons are one of the most common items of trash I see” each day in the Gulf of Maine, Bunker told a legislative committee this week. Bunker is one of many Mainers who urged the Environment and Natural Resources Committee to support bills that would add balloons to anti-littering laws and ban the intentional release outdoors of balloons except for meteorological or scientific reasons. Hot-air balloons for people to ride in would still be allowed.