State leaders, fisherman target NOAA right whale proposals
Maine's Congressional delegation is asking President Biden to help protect the lobster industry from proposed regulations aimed at protecting right whales.
Author: Don Carrigan
Updated: 10:59 PM EST February 25, 2021
AUGUSTA, Maine — Lobsterman John Drouin said in his 42 years of fishing around Cutler, he has never seen a right whale. Many other Maine lobstermen have said the same thing about their experience on the water.
But that may not matter.
NOAA Fisheries, the federal office regulating fishing activity in the northeast, is close to making final recommendations to protect the right whale, and the current indications are the federal plan could deal a severe blow to Maine’s lobster industry.