Trump's pitch to Maine lobstermen falls flat

[left-of-center2012]

President Trump is struggling to win over Maine voters with his recent pledge to lift restrictions for the state’s lobster industry. Trump was beaming when he traveled to the state just two months ago to tell lobstermen he was reversing protections for some 5,000 miles of ocean territory in a bid to open it to fishing.

“You’re going to go fishing in that area now that you haven’t seen for a long time,” Trump said at a roundtable with representatives from Maine’s fishing industry. “Lobstermen and seafood producers, I want to just congratulate you.”

But the state’s lobstermen aren’t celebrating. That’s because the area Trump aims to reopen is 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod — far beyond the reach of Maine’s day-boat lobstermen. “This doesn’t help the Maine fisherman at all,” Leroy Weed, 79, who has had a lobster license since he was 10 years old. Most of Maine’s lobstering takes place within three miles of shore, and don’t typically travel more than 30 miles offshore.

Maine lobster hauls steadily increased during the Obama administration. The real turmoil for the industry came in 2018, when the Chinese market vanished under a 35 percent tariff on lobster. After Trump’s tariffs hit, Maine lobster trade with China dropped 48 percent.

The president has argued that lobstermen’s income was reduced not by tariffs but by Obama’s designation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off Cape Cod. “They took away your livelihood. It’s ridiculous,” he said.

However, the Obama-era restrictions on lobstering in the area aren’t slated to take effect until 2023.

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/510792-trumps-pitch-to-maine-lobstermen-falls-flat

[soothsayer]

1. Time for Sarah Cooper!

[liberalla]

10. God, she's great!

[ananda]

16. Agree!

I never saw such talent in my life!

[Upthevibe]

12. soothsayer....OMG...

Thanks for that post.... Sarah Cooper is "must see."..

[SiliconValley_Dem]

15. she is always hilarious

[FailureToCommunicate]

18. AND...her scripts just write themselves!

She's great!

The ONLY way I can stomach listening to Trump.

[Marcuse]

21. "You mock me!!!"

https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/you-mock-me/n9742

[2naSalit]

2. K&R

[Eugene]

3. 'We have no market, but lots of lobsters': a Maine lobsterwoman fights for her livelihood

'We have no market, but lots of lobsters': a Maine lobsterwoman fights for her livelihood (The Guardian)

Today, in the spring of 2020, Maine’s lobstermen – and women – face pronounced challenges: an ageing fleet, a bait shortage, regulations that restrict vertical fishing lines in order to protect endangered right whales, and a decrease in trade with China after Trump’s trade war.

Maine fishers confront many of the same hurdles already noted in this column: working docks are disappearing, and the opioid crisis has reduced the reliability of crew. Climate change – the great accelerant – is warming the Gulf of Maine and shifting lobster populations north. Plus, the lingering pandemic has silenced a once-thriving market for fresh lobster.

“The pandemic is killing us,” Julie Eaton tells me. “It’s a terrible thing. We have no market, but lots of lobsters. We’re safe to fish on our boats. On my boat, it’s just me and my stern-woman. But I have no place to sell my catch! Right now, I’m home working on traps and gear. I’ll set my traps as late as I can, and still be able to make a year’s pay. I’m trying to fish a little smarter, not harder. I have a very limited time to make a year’s pay – it’s a little scary.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/23/maine-lobsterwoman-coronavirus-climate-change

[soothsayer]

17. "... just me and my stern-woman."

Love!

(Yes, I know what she’s actually saying)

[MoonchildCA]

19. With the name Julie Eaton, I believe...

...he’s a she.

[soothsayer]

20. Ha! Oops

[mainer]

23. Maine has a long history of women working side by side with men

I still remember the smile I got when I saw an auto repair shop named "Smith and Daughters"

[oasis]

4. When Trump runs his mouth he assumes everyone listening is a damn fool. nt

[AZ8theist]

22. Yup, just another pack of lies to the Lobster industry.

Is there any group he HASN'T lied to??

[greenjar_01]

5. Interesting how much lobstermen understand about their...checks notes...

Lifelong and often multi-generational occupation.

It turns out you notice when buyers for a third to a half of your product disappear due to a pointless tariff scheme. Curious, that.

[MFGsunny]

6. Liars lie (L). Grifters grift (G). Gaslighters gaslight (G2).

And MF45, plus his cabal, are the all-time TRIFECTA winners of L/G/G2.

Remember, remember the 3rd of November .... only 90 days out.

[Ilsa]

24. We need a full stanza to commemorate 11/3/20,

just like Guy Fawkes Day.

Remember, remember the Third of November,
The Trump-Russia Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Trump-Russia Treason
Should ever be forgot.

[MFGsunny]

25. This! +1,000,000 Brilliant! n/t

[underpants]

7. If demand is down the last thing you do is increase supply

But I just know that.

Hey you can fish here!
It’s 10 times further away than we go you moron.

[JHB]

8. Not to worry! This guy I met at Mar-a-Lago, great guy, great resort,...

...has the boats to get there, no problem. Big league job creator! Talk to him."

[Ilsa]

26. He came to me and said, "Sir, sir, I've got some really big boats with crew, sir:"

Link to tweet

?s=09

[Botany]

9. The Madness of King Donald of Orange

Opening up a lobster fishing grounds south of Cape Cod doesn't help lobstermen in Maine.

What is that 300 miles away?

[obamanut2012]

11. And, when demand has dropped by over 1/3, you don't add product to the market

I was a Victorian Lit major and know that.

[Botany]

13. And by having protected areas* allows the fish stocks to be protected and from that area they ....

.... will spread out into areas where they can be harvested. Trump is an idiot and I want
to Ohio U. too.

* Obama’s Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off Cape Cod.
No doubt that "black guy" used science and knowledge in the creation of the monument.

[Submariner]

14. Lobster War: The Fight Over The World's Richest Fishing Grounds on Amazon Prime

New documentary on Amazon P if your interested in the ensuing bloodbath between Canadian and Maine lobster fishermen.

https://www.amazon.com/Lobster-War-Richest-Fishing-Grounds/dp/B082VDZRXQ