PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 28, 2022
The Maine lobster industry needs a break. Not only is the fishery being forced to change based on insufficient evidence regarding whale entanglements, it is being forced to do so on a schedule that is both too tight and poorly timed. That has left lobstermen scrambling to meet the May 1 deadline for using special weakened rope – rope that is in short supply, if it can be found at all. All indications are that most lobstermen are trying in good faith to comply. Regulators should recognize that work, as well as the realities of the industry, and give them a break.