February 22, 2022 — Lawmakers from Massachusetts and New Jersey want to set up a new grant program to help develop technology that assists in saving a rare species of whale from extinction.
The North Atlantic right whale numbers less than 340 and faces threats from collisions with large ships and entanglement in fishing gear. They are the subject of numerous new fishing rules designed to improve their chances of survival.
Read the full story from the Associated Press
February 18, 2022 — One of New England’s most critically endangered species is getting some love from federal legislators.
On Thursday, Congressional Democrats introduced a bill focused on saving the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. The legislation, introduced by Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, would start a new grant program, making $15 million available each year for the next decade to projects that can reduce the risks of entanglement in fishing gear and vessel strikes.
North Atlantic right whales live almost exclusively along the eastern coasts of the United States and Canada. Many spend time in late winter and early spring feeding in Cape Cod Bay.
February 17, 2022 — Josh Trosvig is the captain of the Cerulean, a 58-foot boat currently fishing for cod in the Bering Sea, about 80 miles northeast of Unalaska.
On a sunny day earlier this month, while he was waiting for the tide to change, he said he spotted something that looked like a large tote bobbing on the surface of the water, about 300 feet from his boat.
It turned out to be a group of whales.
But not just any whales.
“I’ve seen a lot of whales — thousands, tens of thousands in my 35 years of fishing out here,” Trosvig said. “But this was unique. I’ve never seen whales feed like that.”
Trosvig didn’t know it at the time, but the whales he was watching were North Pacific right whales. They’re critically endangered. And scientists say Trosvig is likely the first person to take photos and video of the whales feeding in the Bering Sea in the winter.
February 10, 2022 — A popular seafood ranking guide is considering “red listing” American lobster and other New England fisheries for the danger they pose to endangered North Atlantic right whales.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s “Seafood Watch” list is used by grocery stores and restaurants like Whole Foods, Red Lobster and Aramark to inform their purchases.
But Massachusetts lobstermen are pushing back on the description of their industry as unsustainable.
“The [Massachusetts] lobster fishery is doing more than any other region,” said Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association Executive Director Beth Casoni. “We are currently under a three-month closure for the protection of right whales. No other state has 9,000 square miles closed to lobster vertical lines.”
Casoni also pointed to the local industry’s early adoption of weaker ropes that can break if a whale becomes entangled.
“When I saw this, I was quite concerned where they were lumping in all the states, all the regions in the United States, to have the American lobster listed as a red choice,” Casoni said. She said her group plans to submit comments to Seafood Watch challenging the designation.
February 9, 2022 — A Maine legislative committee on Tuesday put off its vote on a plan to create a $30 million fund to help fishermen cope with new fishing rules meant to protect whales.
The Maine lobster fishery is subject to new rules designed to protect North Atlantic right whales from entanglement in gear. A bill proposed by Democratic Rep. Holly Stover would create the relief fund to help fishermen hurt economically by the new rules pay for expenses such as boat payments and gear.
February 9, 2022 — A bill that would set up a legal defense fund to help the Maine lobster industry fight a series of impending regulatory changes was met with mixed reaction from lawmakers and industry participants during a public hearing Tuesday.
The Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee also tabled a vote on another bill that would create a $30 million economic relief fund for lobstermen, paid out of the state’s general fund.
The push for legal and economic relief comes in advance of new federal rules that will require lobstermen in the Gulf of Maine to adopt special ropes and other equipment and techniques designed to reduce mortality risk to the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. Those rules are set to take effect May 1, although the industry is seeking a 60-day extension.
Unlike the proposed economic relief fund, which would rely on taxpayer money, the legal defense fund would be paid for with surcharges on lobster trap tags and licenses. Those fees would generate an estimated $807,000 a year for the fund, but would divert money away from other industry causes.
February 9, 2022 — Maine lobstermen say there’s a critical shortage of specialized trap-gear they need to comply with new federal whale protection rules that go into effect this spring. The industry and Maine political leaders are asking the feds to postpone the deadline by two months. But some gear-makers and suppliers say they can make it available, if only someone would order it.
As of May 1, the new federal rules will require lobstermen to use rope that’s weak enough to allow endangered North Atlantic right whales to break through it without danger of deadly entanglements. Alternatively, lobstermen can install weak links in their existing traplines to achieve the same result.
“At this point, the beginning of February, I don’t have access to any type of equipment to modify my gear,” says Friendship lobsterman Dustin Delano, the vice president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. He says he’s been looking for gear that would make sense for his boat and his 800 lobster traps — but so far, no luck. And he’s anxious to get going on the time-consuming task of hauling and converting his gear.
“There’s a few options that exist but you can’t get that equipment,” he says. “I’ve looked into it myself, there isn’t enough, it doesn’t exist. So we can be told we need to comply by May 1, but if I can’t buy the stuff what am I supposed to do?”
Gov. Janet Mills and Maine’s Congressional delegation recently sent a joint letter to the Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, asking to delay the gear-conversion deadline until July 1.
“That would save the industry more than $7 million in lost fishing time, and we believe it would have no or negligible impact on risk reduction,” says Sen. Susan Collins.
February 8, 2022 — Area lobstermen heard little good news at a Jan. 31 Zone B Council meeting as Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher shared information presented earlier at a December 2021 Lobster Advisory Council meeting.
New gear, reporting and trap line regulations and the temporary closure of local waters to lobster fishing – all aimed at protecting the endangered North Atlantic right whale – are changing how lobstermen fish today and in the future. But greater challenges will play out in federal courts, as lawsuits levied by well-funded environmental groups could shut the fishery completely down.
“This represents the greatest threat to the industry,” Deputy Commissioner Meredith Mendelson said.
If the federal court rules to vacate the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s biological opinion, as one lawsuit requests, on grounds that it violates the Endangered Species Act and the 1946 Administration Procedures Act (which governs how federal agencies develop and issue regulations), then NOAA’s National Fisheries Marine Service (NFMS) could not legally authorize the fishery to operate.
February 7, 2022 — Maine’s governor and congressional delegation are calling on the federal government to push back new fishing rules designed to protect whales so fishermen can comply with them.
New lobster fishing rules require fishermen to start using weakened rope or special inserts to weaken existing rope beginning in May in some waters. That’s to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and the four members of the delegation said Monday the federal government should push the conversion deadline from May 1 to July 1. They said a lack of compliant gear is making it hard for harvesters to comply with the rules.
February 7, 2022 — Each of the 13 calves born so far this winter have been greeted with joy, the news shared along the whales’ migration route from the waters off New England and Canada to the calving grounds off Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
But with an estimated population at 336 and falling, there’s no escaping the math, or the impact of human activities on the world’s most endangered large whale.
An estimated 30 whales die each year, according to federal officials. Vessel traffic, commercial fishing gear and a warming climate all threaten the whales.
An average of 11 calves were born each season over the past decade. It would take four times that many over a number of years to bring the whales back to a sustainable population, said Barb Zoodsma, large whale recovery coordinator for the Southeast for the National Marine Fisheries Service. “We’ve never seen that many calves.”