Lobster fishery nets support at local rallies

The color red was on display at Perio Point on Beals Island and across Washington County on September 26 as many businesses and schools came out in force to support the lobster fishery. The "Supporting Our Heritage: Maine's Lobster" rally in Beals saw over 100 people in attendance.
"This is as real as it get," says rally organizer Amanda Smith. "I and many others felt we had to do something once Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) added Maine/North American lobster to its Seafood Watch red list." The influential "red list" urges consumers to avoid lobster because its harvesting threatens North Atlantic right whales. Companies such as HelloFresh and Blue Apron announced an immediate ban of lobster.
"I can trace my Maine lobster fishing heritage back to the mid-1800s on this island," says Smith. "My husband and my two brothers-in-law are lobster fishermen, my father-in-law lobster fished and our three nephews are all lobster fishermen."
Smith, along with a large group of friends and fishermen, hopes the rally brought attention to the impact potential federal regulations could have on the fishery. "We must push back against the unsound science and misinformed claims being made by the MBA," says Smith.

Recent court rulings
There is a clear debate on the impact lobster fishing has on the right whale. Recent reports supported by the Maine fishery indicate 98% of the more than 1,700 documented right whale entanglements lack the data for blame on the Maine fishery. The last recorded entanglement in Maine waters occurred 18 years ago. Since that time, the fishery has made substantial improvements to its gear.
Still, the Maine Coalition for North Atlantic Right Whales, a group of Maine scientists, educators and citizens, believes that number of the incidents of entanglements is significantly underestimated. The group notes that as many as 67 right whales have died in U.S. fishing gear since 2010, and the coalition observes that conclusive information about where entanglements occur has been limited by a number of factors -- gear marking specific to Maine didn't start until 2020; gear is rarely recovered; and many confirmed entanglements are done so by scarring or wound identification. There are an estimated 336 right whales remaining, with fewer than 80 reproductive females.
Federal regulators have been tasked with achieving a 90% risk reduction to the whales from fixed gear fisheries. To do this a number of proposals are being reviewed, including reduction in the number of traps fished per fishermen, a complete closure of all offshore trap fishery from Maine to Florida year round or seasonal rotating closures.
The Maine Lobstermen's Association (MLA) recently lost its lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) that challenged additional federal regulations pertaining to the protection of right whales. MLA has already filed its appeal, vowing to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In its appeal MLA representatives called the federal whale plan "draconian." This all comes on the heels of last year's record haul for the industry. In Washington County over 20 million pounds of lobster valued at $125.5 million were harvested.
Both Governor Janet Mills and the state's congressional delegation share the opinion that Maine fishermen are not a threat to the right whale. A number of letters have been sent by the delegation challenging the federal data and objecting to not being given access to the data tool used by NMFS to support the federal claims.

NMFS proposals and a fisherman's response
The Maine fishery has made significant changes over the last couple of decades to lobster gear such as: more traps per buoy line, which lessens vertical lines; replace floating surface rope with sinking rope; incorporating weak links; marking rope for better traceability; and experimentation of ropes and tools that would cut ropes if encountered by a whale.
In addition to what Governor Mills has called a lack of transparency on the part of NMFS, the federal agency is also proposing three possible actions to lessen whale entanglements. Smith provides a fisherman's perspective on all three.
The first scenario is a 90% reduction in traps used by fishermen. "Currently a fisherman can fish up to 800 traps," says Smith. "The reduction action would take that to 250 per fisherman. The fewer traps there are, the fewer opportunities to harvest enough lobster to make a living."
The second NMFS action would be seasonal closures. "This will result in fishermen relocating their gear during the closures, which then overpopulates fishing areas and results in a curtain of gear in one area," says Smith. "This creates congestion on wharves, as everyone would need to set their gear at the same time to ensure they procure lucrative fishing spots. This fosters an unnecessary divide between fishermen. Additionally, seasonal closures will force individuals to bring in gear during less than acceptable weather, as there will be hard deadlines to abide by."
And the last action would be further development and implementation of "ropeless" gear. Smith believes that is not feasible. "The ocean is a highly corrosive environment," Smith says, as she points to the impact the tides have on the placement of the containers, the inability to see where others have placed their gear, and the expense associated with the technology.
She also notes that other fisheries share these waters and work in tandem with the lobster fishery. "For example, quahog draggers utilize the end-lines of lobster gear and the buoys attached to avoid gear conflict," says Smith. "Ropeless gear removes this visual identifier, resulting in gear from both fisheries becoming damaged."
Lastly Smith cites a recent Canadian study regarding the movement of the right whale's preferred food source. "Data have shown that due to the increase in deep bottom ocean temperatures, the copepods the right whale feeds on have relocated to the Scotian Shelf and Roseway Basin off the coast of Nova Scotia," says Smith. "This results in the right whale bypassing the Maine coast entirely as they migrate to their habitats in these colder waters."

Downeast industry reeling
From low prices this summer for their catch and bait shortages, to the skyrocketing cost of diesel fuel, to say this was a tough summer for lobstermen and women is an understatement, according to Smith.
"It was a rough start to the season due to processing plants in Canada not having the space in their plants for our lobster, resulting in one of the lowest prices per pound, before rebate, that we've ever seen, while bait and fuel are at astronomical highs that don't seem to be coming down any time soon," says Smith. "Most of the time, fishermen are going in the hole financially just to go to work."
Smith believes that NMFS needs to follow the science and be the scientific agency they're supposed to be. She believes if they utilize the data that is available it will influence their decision-making process and perhaps curtail a severe cultural and economic shift from occurring.
"The weight of all the regulations that are already in place, with the very real possibility of more coming, the writing is on the wall - without a major change in direction and more support to protect our self-managed and small business owned fisheries, the collapse of our multi-billion dollar industry is inevitable," says Smith. "It's very real and very frightening."