Maine lobstermen worry about possible closure to protect coral

Charles Kelley began fishing for lobster on Outer Schoodic Ridge about 20 years ago, preferring the solitude of deep waters to the crowded inshore fishery.,, Kelley is worried that he could lose his winter fishing territory if interstate regulators decide to ban all fishing in a 31-square-mile area at the ridge and an 18-square-mile area southwest of Mount Desert Rock to protect deep-water coral gardens found in those waters.,,, Some environmental groups have banded together to oppose the lobster exemption, among other aspects of the proposal, including the Conservation Law Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oceana and The Pew Charitable Trusts. “Heavy offshore trap gear … poses a threat to long-lived and vulnerable deep-sea coral communities,” they wrote in an April 11 letter. “Trap fisheries directly damage corals.” Click here to read the story 07:58

3 Responses to Maine lobstermen worry about possible closure to protect coral

  1. philips66 says:

    Protect coral? Who is going to protect the fishing families?

  2. Borehead says:

    And then they came for the lobstermen…
    September 1, 2012 Gulf of Mexico, Mid Atlantic, National, New England, North Pacific Edit This
    Twenty years from now, after we teach our grandkids about the once great (and long gone) Northeast groundfish fisheries, will the next thing we say be something like “And then they came for the lobstermen”? https://fisherynation.com/archives/500

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