PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 23, 2022
The head of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association spoke at the Maine Restaurant & Lodging Expo in Portland Wednesday about threats she said could erase Maine’s lobster industry and hurt the hospitality industry along with it. Patrice McCarron said the lobster industry is a driver of local economies, with 4,800 vessel owners running independent small businesses, and collectively providing 10,000 jobs on the boats alone, many of those jobs irreplaceable in remote coastal areas. And the industry is booming – it shattered sales records with $725 million in landings last year – and represents 80 percent of the value of all fisheries in Maine. “With all that’s going so well for us, how could we possibly be looking at our fishing heritage being erased?” McCarron said. “The reason for that is the North Atlantic right whale.”