Mainers Guarding Right Whales

01/04/2023

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/21/senate-omnibus-bill-condemns-right-whale-to-extinction

Provision allows Maine’s lobster industry to continue using fishing gear that maims the species, often fatally, until 2028

01/04/2023

"Time between births getting longer

"It's fascinating," Brown said. "I've been doing this for 37, 38 years now and some of these whales I've seen when they were calves … now they're mothers and grandmothers."

Female right whales can have a calf every three years. But Brown said that interval has been getting longer in recent years.

"We believe part of it is due to stress from entanglements. It could also be from stress in their environment, noise for example," Brown said.

The population has also gone through a substantial habitat shift in the last decade, with whales now being seen in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the summer. "

Eight North Atlantic right whale calves have been spotted off the coast of the United States so far this calving season. Right whales have their calves between mid-November and mid-April in southern coastal waters. "It's encouraging to see," said Moira Brown, senior scientist with the Canadian Whale...

09/26/2022

Letter to the editor: Abandoned gear shows scope of threat to right whales

Canadian traps and lines aren’t the only ones in which the endangered species is becoming entangled.
Re: “Small island in Gulf of Maine yields huge haul of abandoned fishing gear” (July 26, Page B1):
Lobster traps, lines and bait bags are piled up on Outer Bar Island off the coast of Gouldsboro, which was cleaned up by people with Ocean Conservancy, the Rozalia Project and volunteers with the Maine Island Trail Association. Gigi Veve/Ocean Conservancy

The article on lobster industry gear trash on Outer Bar Island off Gouldsboro is not an isolated case. There were 230 derelict junk lobster traps on that island with a high-water line perimeter of about 2,400 feet. That is nearly one junk trap per 10 feet of shoreline.

Last summer I went to Seguin Island, off Popham Beach, for the first time to visit the lighthouse. On a side trail, there were five junk traps and multiple balls of nylon rope in less than the 58 feet of shoreline – nearly one trap for every 10 feet of shore.

Mainers like to point to Louisiana and Texas oil industries for destroying their state’s environment and shoreline. Maine is no different, allowing the lobster industry to trash Maine in so many ways.

Lobstermen say, “Right whales don’t get caught in Maine lobster gear.” Yeah, right. One published, peer-reviewed study of available photographs of right whales, taken from 1980 to 2009, found that 83 percent showed evidence of having been entangled in fishing gear at least once.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration states that, since 2017, 47 percent of all documented right whale deaths and serious injuries were from fishing gear entanglements. And we are expected to believe that despite all these rope balls and derelict traps on our shore, with the ocean bottom covered in gear, the right whales are magically getting entangled only in Canadian gear.

There should be a $1,000 returnable deposit on every new lobster trap purchase.

Carl Wilcox
New Gloucester

Canadian traps and lines aren’t the only ones in which the endangered species is becoming entangled.

09/26/2022

Letter to the editor: Before indulging in lobster, ask ‘Is this whale-safe?’

Ropeless fishing technology could prevent entanglements while allowing the fishery to continue to prosper.

There is no reason to take lobster off the menu. There is every reason to serve it up with a “whale-safe” sticker.

Sea Watch’s red-listing got lots of attention. Less is paid to what it and others are pushing: namely, ropeless fishing technology. This could eliminate the half million vertical ropes that tie lobster traps to the surface and entangle all whales that navigate our waters.

In the decade 2009-2018, about 76 whales a year were entangled, according to biologist Bill McWeeny of the Maine Coalition for North Atlantic Right Whales: 264 humpbacks, 62 fins, 89 right whales and 267 minkes. Turtles, too.

By lieu of our ecology, the Maine lobster fishery fishes 87 percent of all traps. The remainder are Canadian- and Massachusetts-operated. More than 80 percent of right whales bear scars from entanglements – and 60 percent of them more than once. Blaming much smaller fisheries for whale entanglements defies logic.

A “whale-safe” sticker, similar to “dolphin-free” tuna can labels, means lobster is caught in a whale-safe manner: All whales.

So does ropeless technology work? Yes, it does. Australia uses it. Is it affordable? Not yet, but it can be with a government mandate that offers a carrot-and-stick approach to technological change. Right now, managerial inertia, regulatory impasses and politics are stumbling blocks to protecting whales and our fishery.

The lobster industry in Maine has powerful friends, but so do the whales. It is time for the industry to stop painting itself into a corner and plan for the future.

Next time you crave lobster, ask “Is this lobster whale-safe?”

Barbara Skapa
executive director, Mainers Guarding Right Whales
Mount Vernon

Ropeless fishing technology could prevent entanglements while allowing the fishery to continue to prosper.

09/18/2022

Commentary: With extinction looming, all must act to save whales
September 1, 2022

By Russell Wray

The commentary “Entanglement blame game good for wallets, not for whales” [Aug. 25] states that it is in response to “misleading and false information.” Ironically, the commentary has a measure of its own misinformation.

It would have us believe that “only two whales have ever been seen in Maine lobster gear” and that this gear has caused zero deaths and serious injuries.

However, NOAA Fisheries has stated, “We have documented Maine lobster gear on three live entangled right whales in 2002, 2003 and 2004.”

The whale referred to as having been entangled in 2004, known as Kingfisher, was born in 2003 and first seen entangled in Maine lobster gear the following year with rope wrapped multiple times around his right flipper, which embedded deeper and deeper into his flesh as the years passed. Though Kingfisher was seen every year previously, he hasn’t been sighted since 2015, when he was observed with deep, open wounds in his flipper. He is now, according to established scientific protocol, presumed dead; one of those cryptic deaths that are referred to in a 2021 scientific study that estimates that there are roughly three times as many right whale deaths occurring than have been reported.

Between 1980 and 2019, more than 1,700 right whale entanglements have been documented. Yet, due to historically lax gear-marking requirements and a low rate of gear retrieval from entangled whales, scientists can only determine where less than 2 percent of these entanglements occurred. Given the fact that the Maine lobster fishery represents the greatest density of vertical lines in U.S. waters within right whale habitat, it is very likely that many more entanglements have occurred in Maine lobster gear than have been documented.

While it is currently not possible to prove that other, additional right whale mortalities have resulted from entanglements in Maine gear, likewise, no pot/trap/gillnet fishery can prove that it is not contributing to right whale mortality, including Maine’s lobster fishery.

And we know that it is not only right whales who are being entangled by this fishery. To name just a few:

Spinnaker was a female humpback whale born in 2004. She is known to have been entangled four times, with three of those entanglements being in lobster gear, two of which occurred off of Bar Harbor. Spinnaker died in 2015 as a result of her entanglements.
Minke whales routinely get entangled and die in Maine gear. In 2020 and 2021, two minkes were entangled in Maine state gear as determined by the recently implemented gear-marking requirements.

The commentator, a fisherman himself for almost 50 years, says he has never seen a right whale, perhaps implying they aren’t in Maine waters. Yet there have been plenty of sightings and even more acoustic detections of these whales in waters that Maine lobstermen fish in.

Regarding the commentary’s citing of an increase in the right whale population, the fact remains that fewer than 340 are now estimated to remain on the planet, and they are being killed far faster than being born. And while it is true that 20 were born in the 2020-21 calving season and 15 in 2021-22, NOAA has stated in its 2022 calving season report that “given the estimated rate of human-caused mortality and serious injury, we need approximately 50 or more calves per year for many years to stop the decline and allow for recovery.”

The commentary makes some suggestions as to the most significant threats to the whale’s comeback, including deaths due to old age, but right whales are no longer living to old age, with the vast majority of deaths resulting from entanglements and vessel strikes. And as NOAA’s 2021 stock assessment report states, “The principal factor believed to be preventing growth and recovery of the population is entanglement with fishing gear (Kenney 2018).”

So, while the looming, potential extinction of the right whale cannot be solely blamed on Maine lobstermen, with vessel strikes and other fisheries also taking a heavy toll, the Maine lobster fishery is contributing to the crisis. Shouldn’t the fishery make the changes necessary so that both it, and the right whale, will continue on into the future? I, for one, think so.

Russell Wray of Hancock is a member of Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST).

By Russell Wray The commentary “Entanglement blame game good for wallets, not for whales” states that it is in response to “misleading and false

09/18/2022

Letter to the editor: Right whales aside, lobstering is unsustainable

The litter, bait and carbon impacts of the Maine fishery are considerable.

The recent “red listing” of Maine lobster has caused quite the uproar and the predictable responses from the industry and politicians. Seafood Watch advises against consuming lobster because of the threat to right whales. Defenders of the industry will claim that the fishery is the most sustainable in the world. Whales aside, the claim is baseless. Here are just a few reasons why:

1) An estimated 175,000 lobster traps are lost in the Gulf of Maine each year. Anyone walking Maine’s shorelines from Cutler Coast to Cape Porpoise has undoubtably seen the piles of plastic-coated traps, foam buoys and polypropylene line that litter our coast.

2) A pound of lobster requires upward of 3 pounds of bait, resulting in a situation where lobstering is more farming than fishing. The industry relies on herring, which is a critical food source for seabirds, marine mammals and sportfish. Herring populations have plummeted to historic lows, forcing lobstermen to switch to menhaden, which has been called “the most important fish in the sea.”

3) Lobstering is carbon intensive. As fishermen set traps, check traps and haul traps, their diesel engines burn immense amounts of fuel. Fishing for lobster and other crustaceans has one of the highest emissions intensities (measured in CO2 equivalent per kg of seafood) of any fishery.

Maybe the Maine Department of Marine Resources should allow commercial diving for lobster; it would solve the whale, litter, bait and carbon problem. Until then, Maine lobster will continue to be unsustainable.

Gabe Andrews
Westbrook

The litter, bait and carbon impacts of the Maine fishery are considerable.

09/09/2022

https://www.pressherald.com/2022/09/08/federal-judge-rejects-bid-to-block-to-new-lobster-rules/

U.S. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg turned down a bid by lobstermen's groups and the state to halt the new federal rules designed to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales.

09/09/2022

https://wgme.com/news/local/retailers-pull-lobster-from-menus-after-red-list-warning?fbclid=IwAR1jDgtRtdNB3SVUXLZ7VjDXzZ4PHqTLZudMLPzbJrsn0dqGr4DiRaSqOQo

Some retailers are taking lobster off the menu after an assessment from an influential conservation group

08/23/2022

TAKE ACTION: Currently only around 330 North Atlantic right whales remain, and without stronger protections in place, these animals are facing extinction. NOAA Fisheries Service’s new proposed boat speed limits are good but must be stronger to protect these whales from deadly vessel collisions. Speak up now for the : https://bit.ly/3vQxSFv

08/23/2022

TRAGIC: Another North Atlantic right whale — this one only a year old — was recently spotted entangled in fishing gear. The young whale was seen off the coast of New Brunswick, trailing ropes and buoys that were caught around its tail. Entanglements like this are far too common, and without stronger protections in place, these critically endangered whales face extinction. Speak up for the : https://bit.ly/3dOk7AW

08/13/2022

Under 360 left. We need to do what ever it takes to save these incredible marine mammals

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Federal regulators who want to enforce new vessel speed rules to help protect rare whales can expect some pushback from ship operators.

07/23/2022

Saturday! Excited to hear Marine Mammals of Maine share rescue stories from our coast.

FUN learning opportunity tomorrow for adults and kiddos! The whales are incredible marine mammals that need our understanding and help. MMoM does phenomenal work rescuing stranded sea creatures from our beaches.

Thank you to the Falmouth Memorial Library and Marine Mammals of Maine for organizing this amazing event.

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World of Whales with MMoME
Saturday
7/23/2022
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Falmouth Memorial Library
Whole Russell Meeting Room
https://www.facebook.com/events/711692210048821/

Whales play a vital role in the ocean ecosystem that helps to support all life on Earth. Join Marine Mammals of Maine (MMoME) as we dive deep into the world of whales. We will start with a basic overview of what species have been spotted in the Gulf of Maine (the common and the uncommon). We will also investigate the adaptations that these large mammals have in order to survive in their ocean home. This program will also focus on cetacean stranding response here in Maine, and highlight a few of MMoME’s most fascinating cases. What challenges do these animals face, and what challenges does MMoME encounter when a report of a stranded cetacean comes through their hotline?