August 22, 2019 — Commercial lobstermen urged federal regulators Wednesday to take Canada to task for its failure to protect North Atlantic right whales and to remember that local lobstermen carry a heavier burden of regulation than others in U.S. waters.
“We as lobstermen do not want to see harm come to the right whale,” Plymouth lobsterman Tom O’Reilly said at a public forum at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School, the eighth in a series of meetings held this month on revisions to the plan to reduce the risk to whales posed by fishing gear. “We have done so much as an industry to try to prevent this.”
The Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association believes Canada can do more, as can other coastal areas in the Northeast. “We’re still at the table today,” said Beth Casoni, the association’s executive director, despite what the fishermen see as a heavier regulatory burden.