April 24, 2019 — It’s still too early in the year for lobster fishing to be in full swing, so it was quiet enough on the water this week to hear the distant sound of dropping shoes from a meeting of the NOAA Fisheries Large Whale Take Reduction Team meeting that began Tuesday morning in Providence, R.I.
The four-day meeting of some 60 state and federal fisheries management officials, scientists, fishermen, and conservation group representatives was scheduled to discuss ways to further reduce serious injury and mortality of endangered North Atlantic right whales attributed to lobster traps and other trap and pot fishing gear.
By the time the meeting ends on Thursday, the Take Reduction Team could propose some stringent measures affecting the Maine lobster fishery.