August 11, 2014 — Look, no one wants to endanger the humpback whale, right whale or probably any other sea creature. But to suggest that there is a need — not a want, a documented need —for eliminating the citing of any lobster traps in this expansive marine area just doesn’t make sense.
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is taking steps to cut back on the harvesting of seafood to address what it claims is a dire need to preserve a marine species.
Yet, state lawmakers and those within the seafood industry say the dramatic move is unnecessary, that it is being based on “bad science,” and that it will crippled the industry — doing perhaps irreparable harm to fishing communities in the process.
That, of course, has been the standing argument and NOAA procedure at the core of the federally recognized “economic disaster” within the Northeast groundfishery — with the federal government now shelling out a total of $75 million in disaster aid, including direct aid to Gloucester and other cod and groundfishermen who are still yet to receive a dime of it.
But the latest declaration by NOAA and its Division of Marine Fisheries isn’t connected to groundfishing. This time, NMFS has imposed a new rule designed to protect right and humpback whales — a mandate that will prohibits lobster traps in an area stretching from Cape Cod Bay to Boston between Jan. 1 and April 30 (see news story, Page 1). And that is just one more recipe for disaster for the Cape Ann, Massachusetts and New England seafood economy.
At the core of the dispute is NOAA’s, NMFS’ and others’ claims that the great mammals that traverse the seas not far from our coasts are being increasingly endangered by becoming snared by trap lines and other gear as they surface and dive while foraging for food.
Read the full editorial at the Gloucester Daily Times