PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 8, 2023
Last year, the Maine lobster industry was faced with a potential new requirement that would mandate the use of on-demand or “ropeless” fishing gear to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale in certain times and places. Maine’s representatives delivered what the governor hailed as a “lifeline for Maine’s lobster industry”: Six years and $18 million to test and develop safer fishing gear. The lobster industry got exactly what it wanted: more time and money. But to read that the industry now won’t even participate in the testing that it demanded is beyond troubling. This exposes what may be behind this: a shameless political tactic to delay doing what is needed to help this species recover. ~ Sarah Perry, Falmouth