Plan To Save Endangered Whales Faces Pushback From Lobster Industry
North Atlantic Right Whale
Photo Courtesy the Center for Biological Diversity
The endangered North Atlantic right whale population took a big hit last year, with a record number killed by fishing gear entanglements and ship strikes. Now, an ongoing debate over threats posed by Maine’s lobster industry is gaining new urgency.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientist Mark Baumgartner said that to help the whales survive much longer, the rope Maine lobstermen use to tend their traps must be modified or even eliminated. And it’s not just for the whales’ sake.