Spring is where?!? Northeast Harbor, Maine March 11, 2019. Queen Jeanne had just come back from hauling out by Mt. Desert Rock and collected some spray on the way home. Weather and water temperatures were topics regarding species of fish like black sea bass moving into and out of Maine waters at the Forum in Rockport, Maine in early March. Winston Shaw photo.
Lobster Industry Grapples with Whales and Bait Crises
by Laurie Schreiber
ROCKPORT—The annual meeting of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA), held March 1 at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum in Rockport, once again drew a standing-room-only crowd of fishermen and others interested in hearing the latest update on the lobster industry’s response to crises related to right whales and bait.
“Especially in the last few years, we’re trying to focus on the big issues in the fishery, the ones that can ruin us,” Kristan Porter, who became president of the MLA at the 2018 fishermen’s forum, told the crowd. “Whale and bait are the two big ones.”
Porter said the MLA is fighting, and will continue to do so, to set the record straight on the fishery’s role in the entanglement of endangered North Atlantic right whales. The industry has said that role is minimal. The MLA has rejected the concept of ropeless fishing, at least for now, he added.
“It’s not ready for prime time and it’s not close to being ready for prime time,” Porter said.
At the same time, he said, the industry is being proactive in finding solutions. One initiative includes a partnership with the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) on a research project
