February 25, 2021 โ A draft federal biological opinion on the impact of fisheries on endangered North Atlantic right whales would โnecessitate the complete reinvention of the Maine lobster fishery,โ Governor Janet Mills wrote in a forceful Feb. 19 letter to NOAA Fisheries, citing โgrave concernโ and โinequities.โ
The draft biological opinion includes a conservation framework that calls for a 98 percent reduction in risk to whales from U.S. federal fixed gear fisheries, including lobster fishing, over the next decade.
โThe survival of Maineโs iconic lobster fishery, and in fact, our heritage, through the future of Maineโs independent lobstermen and women, depend on your willingness to act,โ Mills wrote to Michael Pentony, NOAA Fisheries regional administrator. The letter was included with the state Department of Marine Resourcesโ comments on the draft opinion.
In his comment letter, DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher wrote that his agency is โdeeply concernedโ that while several human causes of whale mortality are cited, โthe draft Bi-Op places the overwhelming majority of the burden to reduce mortality/serious injury on U.S. fisheries, and specifically the U.S. trap/pot fishery.โ