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FreedomXFromme t1_ixilzwo wrote

Reply to comment by respaaaaaj in Whole Foods to pause sales of Maine lobster by bostondotcom

Can you prove that?

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respaaaaaj t1_ixinabu wrote

There's no evidence of a Maine lobster trap ever killing a whale, and the most recent evidence of one injuring a whale is more than a decade ago. Canadian (and for that matter other states with weaker regulations on traps) traps on the other hand there is plenty of evidence of injured and dead whales. You're right of course, you can't prove a negative, but when there isn't evidence of Maine lobster traps harming whales but there is evidence of other states and countries traps doing it, the solution isn't to assume Maine is just as bad as the others and getting lucky, but to look at what Maine is doing that they aren't.

Maine has far stronger whale safety regulations than other states and especially fucking Canada, which are widely if not universally observed, because even if lobstermen don't give a shit about whales, they want the industry to be sustainable.

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eLearningChris t1_ixjxdzu wrote

Yes. Right whales are all tracked. And the council admits their concern is a “potential” risk to the whales. They are also advocating a 10 mile per hour limit on all boats in East Coast waters.

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West_Ad_8279 t1_ixliggx wrote

Right whales are not tracked

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eLearningChris t1_ixm4f2y wrote

http://rwcatalog.neaq.org/#/

Did not mean that they all have radio trackers on them. They are closely monitored as an endangered species. With all of this they have still never actually found a single right whale that has been killed by Maine lobster gear. The actual danger these days is a combination of pollution and ship strikes from larger ships that often go 30+ knots when offshore and actually are tracked via AIS. It will be interesting to see what happens when the 10-knot speed limit eventually passes for most of the US East Coast out to 10 miles.

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