MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • September 5, 2021
The National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration’s new North Atlantic right whale protection plan would ban traditional lobster fishing in a 950-square-mile zone from Mt. Desert Island to eastern Casco Bay during the months of October through January. It has sparked rare agreement between lobstermen and environmentalists who say that the program is set up to fail because it would hurt the Maine lobster industry without saving whales. NOAA’s proposal is opposed by Gov. Janet Mills and all four members of our congressional delegation. The regulators should listen to them and the other parties and come up with a whale protection plan that won’t sink an important industry, and will actually protect whales.