Lobstermen must start removing gear to save whales, feds say

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Lobster fishermen off the Maine coast must begin to remove gear from a new protected area intended to help whales, the federal government said.

New rules make an approximately 950-square-mile area of the Gulf of Maine essentially off limits to lobster fishing from October to January. A federal appeals court ruled this week that the ban is enforceable, despite legal challenges from the lobster industry.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Wednesday that lobster and crab fishermen in the area must now remove their gear and may not set new gear. The agency said it expects the gear to be removed within two weeks.

The removal of the gear in late fall presents a safety concern, said Patrick Keliher, the commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources. He said the federal government and the courts “have an obligation to take fisherman safety into concern when they make these decisions.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/environment-maine-lobsters-c5ac0ad8658b28339e2dd5a820d98165

[OneCrazyDiamond]

1. Chalk one up for Nature.

[DFW]

2. The lobstermen will go nuts, but...

The whales must take priority, plus

It will give the lobster population a chance to rebuild its numbers, and

The price of lobster meat this past summer was SEVENTY F***ING DOLLARS A POUND!!! That’s already somewhere nudging the asteroid belt. So what if they close some fishing grounds? Who is going to balk at $100 a pound that didn’t already say no, thanks, at $70 a pound?

[melm00se]

3. Those sound like retail prices

something the lobsterman will never see.

The lobsterman gets "boat pricing" which was $6/pound in July and peaked in the $11/pound range in September.

[DFW]

4. Definitely retail prices

It is what all the shops on the outer cape were charging this summer. Restaurants were worse. A lobster roll, with a quarter pound of meat of they were generous, was $35.

Now the Cape's businesses need to make 95% of their money during about ten weeks out of the year, so some price gouging is to be taken in stride during tourist season, and we accept it. But the fish is almost always fresh at most of the shops there, and except for lobster, scallops and shrimp, I didn't notice any huge jumps over last year. As opposed to most years, we let the shellfish lie for most of the time we were there, and had cod, halibut or monkfish instead. Could we have afforded the expensive shellfish? Sure, we COULD have blown the money. But even Bill Gates or Warren Buffet probably wouldn't appreciate being robbed of $124 at gunpoint, even if they could afford it. It just leaves an unpleasant aftertaste.

[LT Barclay]

7. I was reading recently how the lobster are really a secondary catch because all the fish have

already been taken and never given a chance to recover. So the lobsters moved in and have become the new big thing.
Maybe this move will help rebuild stocks of cod and other fish. It might also help the whales rebound more as it might allow more of the copepods to grow.
Also, I know there should be some assistance for fishermen and farmers, but I'm about sick of the attitude that everything else in the world has to go so these guys can keep doing the same job no matter the impact to the ecosystem. So let them throw a tantrum, only FOX will care.

[cstanleytech]

8. The price could drop to a penny and pound as far as I am concerned as I cannot eat it

nor even touch any shellfish or atleast not if I do not want a trip to the ER.

[hunter]

5. I think I'm done with commercial fishing of all sorts.

Let them grow tilapia, spiny lobsters and giant crayfish in ponds and call it seafood.

Leave the oceans to the whales.

[getagrip_already]

6. gear removal presents a safety concern? wtaf???

So it/s fine for the lobsterman/women to tend their lines all season long, but removing them is a safety concern?

I'm sorry, I'm a fisherman, but I don't understand this.

Lobsterman/women don't park their gear far offshore for the winter. They couldn't afford the losses. And they continue to fish in every month of the year.

Wtf is that guy talking about?

[XanaDUer2]

9. Good

Lobsters are like giant sea scorpions.