ASSOCIATED PRESS • February 1, 2022
Members of Maine's fishing industry and state regulators testified Tuesday in favor of the creation of a new $30 million fund to help lobster fishermen cope with new rules meant to protect whales. Federal rules make an approximately 950-square-mile area of the Gulf of Maine essentially off limits to lobster fishing from October to January to protect North Atlantic right whales. A proposal would create the fund to provide grants to lobstermen and other fishermen affected by the rules.