The enjoyment of the meal, however, was slightly tinged by reports that North Atlantic right whales were dying because of entanglement in the trap lines that lobster fishermen use. Now it appears that this problem may be solvable through technology:
Mr. [Rob] Martin is one of more than two dozen lobstermen now testing new, ropeless fishing gear designed to protect the North Atlantic right whale, a docile giant whose numbers in recent years have plunged, from an estimated 481 individuals in 2011 to 340 in 2021. The endangered whales can have trouble feeding or breathing—sometimes with deadly results—after becoming entangled in the ropes that secure the lobster traps to the buoys.
The hope is that the ropeless gear will help ensure the whales’ survival while keeping the fishing industry afloat.
Several kinds of ropeless gear are being evaluated in the program, which includes a total of 30 lobstermen actively testing the gear and 20 who are waiting to join their ranks. The program aims to identify which gear works best and might be scaled up for broad commercial use.
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| WSJ illustration: the lines are stowed on the traps and rise to the surface when pop-up buoys, inflatable bags or buoyant spools are activated by a signal from a boat. Then the traps are hauled up. |
A federal judge ruled in July that NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] hadn’t done enough to protect the right whale and in a subsequent ruling gave agency officials two years to come up with a plan to reduce whale deaths by 90 percent.The whales vs. lobster industry dispute has become heated because of the lack of direct evidence that the lines are the cause of the whales' decline. "Researchers rely on indirect evidence, since most dead whales aren’t found." Meanwhile, we applaud the NOAA for funding, designing, and testing solutions where both sides can win.
We'll treat ourselves to another lobster dinner this Christmas season.
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