US lobster put on 'red list' to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales
(Guardian UK) Lobster nets and pots have become such a threat to the survival of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales that the crustaceans have been “red-listed” as seafood to avoid by a major fish sustainability guide.
Fewer than 340 of these whales exist today, including only 80 breeding females. The population is estimated to have dwindled by 28% over the past decade.
Seafood Watch, a sustainability guide for consumers and businesses issued by Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, has downgraded Atlantic lobster caught by pot and gillnet fisheries in the whales’ range to “avoid”, its lowest rating.
The new assessment reflects the lack of “timely, effective management” to mitigate “significant risks” of entanglement and promote recovery of the species. The US lobster fishery is worth about $500m (£430m) a year. .............(more)
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/08/us-lobster-put-on-red-list-to-protect-endangered-north-atlantic-right-whales
= new reply since forum marked as read
"Lobstering town" for a few years when I was a kid, I hiked down to the wharf every chance I got. It was becoming apparent, then, that the fishery was in trouble. And that was over a decade prior to the Endangered Species Act.
With profit being he primary reason for the growth of the industry and with major opposition from the industry to any kind of remediation or protections, this was inevitable. And what you will hear most is the loud wailing of the industry folks about threats to their making a profit off of harvesting an endangered species at the expense of another two or three.
And then they want to know why they are getting flooded out of their home and their gardens are burning up, but don't talk about the climate or anything like that.
