MAINE PUBLIC • August 23, 2021
Maine's Congressional delegation is making an 11th-hour plea for federal regulators to ease some of the most onerous lobster fishing rules being proposed to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released an Environmental Impact Statement last month that contemplates wide changes in lobster-fishing activities and gear aimed at reducing the risk of whales becoming entangled in trap-rope and gear. In a joint letter to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, which oversees NOAA, all four members of the delegation ask regulators to make the rules less costly or dangerous for fishermen, while still protecting whales.