Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to [email protected]
I am writing regarding the May 22 opinion piece in the Bangor Daily News, “Lobstermen support better science to help right whales.”
The piece begins by stating, “The historical record of Maine lobstermen is clear. One right whale entangled in 2004 was disentangled and swam free.”
This clearly leaves the reader with the impression that the whale swam away with no ropes on it and lived happily ever after. But this whale, known as Kingfisher, was only partially disentangled (putting human lives at risk), and lived with rope wrapped tightly around his right flipper, which became deeply embedded as he grew, for 11 years. He has not been sighted since 2015 and has been presumed dead since 2021, according to scientific protocol.
In fact, the historical record of Maine lobster gear entanglements is hardly clear. There have been over 1,700 documented right whale fishing gear entanglements, but researchers are only able to determine which fishery the entangling gear came from in less than 2 percent of the cases. Murky would be a far more accurate way to describe the historical record. This data gap has been repeatedly used by Maine’s politicians and lobster industry to make the unsupportable claim that Maine lobster gear hasn’t entangled any right whales since 2004.
Given Maine has the highest concentration of vertical lines in U.S. waters, and the fact that since the 2020 gear-marking requirement, there have been seven documented large whale entanglements in Maine gear, it is unlikely Maine gear isn’t also entangling right whales.
Russell Wray
Maine Coalition for North Atlantic Right Whales
Hancock
