Northeast
Here's how activists use lobstermen as bait to endanger Maine industry, communities
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Far left activists are exploiting the recent death of an endangered whale to imperil the future of Maine’s iconic lobster fishery.
An endangered right whale recently washed ashore on Martha’s Vineyard entangled with Maine lobstering gear. It’s the first documented right whale fatality associated with our fishery, but so-called environmentalists are seizing the moment to call for consumer boycotts and new regulations that threaten the maritime communities that depend on Maine lobster.
Fishermen are the real stewards of the ocean. But cubicle environmentalists are scapegoating us for whale deaths and demanding that regulators retaliate against us owing to the recent entanglement.
Maine lobstermen haul in their latest catch off the state’s coast. (Maine Lobstermens Association/Marketing Collaborative)
These organizations have poor command of the facts and no knowledge of our industry. Their agitating imperils our fishery and the working communities that depend on it.
LOBSTER FISHERMEN CLAW AT ‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL’ BOAT TRACKING MANDATE
Organizations like the National Resources Defense Council, the Conservation Law Foundation and others are exploiting this event to pressure regulators to impose new rules. These organizations are restless and can claim some success. A self-styled watchdog called Seafood Watch convinced Whole Foods to stop stocking Maine lobster products late in 2022.
Critically, regulators acknowledge that data respecting right whale entanglements and Maine’s lobster fishery are uncertain at best. A biological opinion from National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on right whale interactions with our fishery forthrightly acknowledged this point – and that many regulations binding our industry are based on guesswork.
“Data are limited, so we are often forced to make assumptions to overcome the limits in [sic] our knowledge,” the opinion reads.
MAINE GROUP SUES CALIFORNIA AQUARIUM FOR TELLING CUSTOMERS TO AVOID BUYING LOBSTER
This is no surprise. Many whale deaths go undetected. Even when whale deaths are identified, it is often impossible to assign a cause of death owing to decomposition.
When entanglements are documented, they can seldom be traced to particular countries or even particular types of gear. And in those rare instances when a right whale entanglement can be traced, the numbers show Canadian fishermen are disproportionately responsible.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit cited all of these facts when it blocked a regulatory plan for Maine’s lobster fishery in 2023.
Given the uncertainties in the data, as well as the steps lobstermen undertake to protect whales, you would think the environmental NGOs would make more modest claims. But they are so hostile toward fishermen, and so wide of the facts, that many of NEFSA’s members are suspicious of their true motives.
GREEN GROUPS TARGETING BLUE-COLLAR LOBSTERMEN ARE LARGELY FUNDED BY DARK MONEY
These groups know little about the data and even less about lobstering. The industry-side solutions they suggest show the staggering distance between brahmin “environmentalists” and working people.
For example, the Conservation Law Foundation has long touted the benefits of ropeless traps, a catchall term for several kinds of technology.
While ropeless trap technology may one day be safe and commercially viable, as of this writing, I do not know a single lobsterman who could afford to make the transition.
Ropeless traps also have an unacceptably high rate of failure. I am confident in asserting that the overwhelming majority of Maine lobstermen oppose any such transition as a simple matter of dollars and cents.
MAINE LOBSTERMAN HEARS MYSTERIOUS CRIES FROM THE WATER THAT LEAD TO MIRACLE RESCUE
A ropeless trap regime will drive most lobstermen out of the fishery, clearing the water for a corporate takeover. I don’t know if these so-called environmentalists favor corporatizing the lobster fishery, but that is the future they will get.
These entities have no connection to our coastal communities – unless perhaps they own vacation houses up here – and it shows.
For our part, lobstermen have removed over 25,000 miles of line from the water. All of our gear is marked, ensuring any entanglement is attributable to our fishery. And we deploy weaker rope with weak link devices to head-off entanglements.
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Because of these measures, entanglements are rare. Right whale #5120 is just the second documented entanglement associated with our fishery since 2004, and the first fatality.
Maine’s lobster fishery is a model of sustainability. Our data-driven, preservation-minded practices have created an environmental and economic miracle. Wild lobster stocks are healthy and robust, while the lobster supply chain generates $1 billion for the state’s economy and supports thousands of jobs. We know what we’re doing.
Read the full article from Here
Kids shouted, stilt-walkers strode and paper-mache puppets swayed above the crowd as a procession snaked through downtown Burlington last week.
What for? Trout.
Sustainability Academy students and their supporters marched across the city to the beat of bucket drummers May 29 for the second annual Trout Parade, a showcase of their conservation efforts for the state’s official cold-water fish.
Their chants and hoisted fish-shaped cutouts served as a send-off to brook trout raised by students as part of a schoolwide science project.
“The Trout Parade was really just our students lining up to say goodbye as we loaded them onto the bus to be released,” said Kestrel Plump, a sustainability coach at the academy.
For about five months this year, the school lobby became a hatchery as students cultivated fish from eggs supplied by regional conservation group Trout Unlimited.
Interim Principal Antony Dennis said the trout would be released in the Huntington River the next day, May 30.
“This is the second year that it’s been this big that we actually got to a point where it went off campus,” Dennis said. “It used to be a small event.”
The parade began for students outside the school as residents set out from The Flynn to join them and continue together to Battery Park.
The school has conducted the project for roughly five years, but this was only its second time partnering with The Flynn and Vermont puppeteers Janice Walrafen and Erik Gillard, or Erok.
The kids thought the jumbo puppets were magical, Walrafen said. “The same with the masks. You put on a mask, and then all of a sudden you get to be transformed as something other than your little self,” she said. “You get to be part of something bigger.”
Onlookers, bicyclists and pedestrians stopped and recorded the spectacle with their phones.
If they had any question about its object, answers came by way of lilting treble chants.
“Tell me what it’s all about!” a parade leader called out over a megaphone.
“Trout!” a chorus of kids chimed back.
They followed their leader in reciting: “We love the trout, but we must let them out!”
The parade concluded with a pageant accompanied by a harpist. The students were sent off with ice cream given out by retired University of Vermont faculty member Patrick Malone.
Asked if students get attached to the aspiring fish or just see them as blobs in a science project, Plump, the school sustainability coach, let a group of girls answer.
“The first one,” one of them said.
And were they happy to see their piscine pals released?
“Quite,” another responded.
Corey Arwood is the Burlington Free Press city reporter and can be reached by email at clarwood@gannett.com.
What should have been a quiet off-day for the Boston Red Sox has devolved into chaos.
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow was the subject of a profile article in The Boston Globe that didn’t paint a sunny picture of his tenure, including a tough nugget about his relationship with legend Theo Epstein. But Breslow’s harshest critic of the day was probably the father of one of his ex-players.
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Hunter Dobbins made his second major league appearance on Sunday since being traded from the Red Sox in the deal that brought Willson Contreras to Boston. After Dobbins pitched well and featured his sinker more than expected, his father Lance Dobbins took to social media to excoriate the Red Sox and Breslow.
Lance Dobbins’ latest comments harsher than the first
We covered Lance Dobbins’ initial comments from late Sunday night that seemed to be directed at the Red Sox organization already on Boston Red Sox On SI. But on Monday evening, the elder Dobbins reentered the fray to absolve pitching coach Andrew Bailey of any blame, effectively throwing Breslow under the bus.
When asked if Breslow replacing Chaim Bloom as chief baseball officer led to Hunter throwing less sinkers and fewer four-seam fastballs in the Red Sox organization, Lance responded with this:
Yes! In Bailey’s defense he wanted the addition, but people behind computers make those decisions. The coaching staff is literally working with one hand tied behind their backs. Driveline is the answer to everything, but winning games! Ask yourself, why are so many of our guys…
— Lance Dobbins (@lpdobbins) June 1, 2026
“Yes! In Bailey’s defense he wanted the addition, but people behind computers make those decisions. The coaching staff is literally working with one hand tied behind their backs. Driveline is the answer to everything, but winning games!
“Ask yourself, why are so many of our guys always injured (pitchers and position players), it’s not by pure bad luck. Pitchers are having constant issues and hitters are always hurting hands and wrist. It’s not a league wide problem. It has to be fixed or we’ll never win because half of our starters will always be on the IL.”
That last point has to hit home for the Red Sox because star outfielder Roman Anthony (who debuted in the majors a couple of months after Hunter Dobbins) has now had two long-lasting injuries that occurred on swings — an oblique strain in September that ended his season prematurely, and a partially torn finger ligament that has held him out of action since May 4, with no end in sight.
Monday just wasn’t a good day in the public relations department for the Red Sox front office, or for Breslow in particular. But it’s worth noting that Dobbins has only made two appearances in a Cardinals uniform, allowing four earned runs in eight innings, taking a loss and earning a save.
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PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates sent out one of their relief pitchers, who they had recently moved on from.
The Pirates announced that they traded right-handed relief pitcher Justin Lawrence to the Minnesota Twins for cash considerations on June 1.
Pittsburgh designated Lawrence for assignment on May 29, as they activated right-handed starting pitcher Jared Jones from the 60-day injured list, making room for Jones on both the 26-man roster and the 40-man roster.
The Twins decided that instead of waiting for Lawrence to go on waivers, they sent cash considerations to the Pirates to get him over another potential ball club.
Overlook at Justin Lawrence’s Tenure With the Pirates
Lawrence struggled for the Pirates this season, posting a 5.32 ERA over 22.0 innings pitched and 23 outings, a 0-2 record, 25 strikeouts to 12 walks, a .244 batting average allowed (BAA) and a 1.55 WHIP.
He had a solid campaign for the Pirates in 2025, aside from missing four months due to injury, with a 0.51 ERA over 17 appearances and 17.2 innings pitched, where he looked to get even better this year.
Lawrence struggled with his sinker and his fastball, with a .282 BAA and a 44.7% hard hit rate on his sinker and a .353 BAA and a 36.4% hard hit rate on his fastball.
His sweeper was also not effective as it was a season prior, as hitters did have 31.3% hard hit rate, but he still had effectiveness with it, amassing 18 of his 25 strikeouts on it.
Lawrence had a poor stretch from April 6-12, where he gave up eight runs and six earned runs over 3.2 innings pitched and four outings.
He pitched in two losses to the San Diego Padres at PNC Park, April 6 and 8, and played a role in the Chicago Cubs forcing the game into extra innings on April 11 at Wrigley Field, which the Pirates won, then gave up the tying run in the 7-6 loss to the Cubs on April 12.
Lawrence bounced back with seven straight scoreless outings, before giving up eight runs and four earned runs over four outings from May 8 to May 16.
His last outing came vs. the Cubs at PNC Park, a 10-4 loss on May 27, where he gave up two runs over two innings on a two-run home run to left fielder Ian Happ.
It ends a little more than a year between Lawrence originally joining the Pirates off of waivers from the Colorado Rockies and serves as a disappointing ending from a promising start for the reliever.
Make sure to visit Pirates OnSI for the latest news, updates, interviews and insight on the Pittsburgh Pirates!
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