[ad_1]
YORK, Maine — Several Maine lobster industry members are suing the Monterey Bay Aquarium for defamation over its decision to downgrade American lobster to its red list, which resulted in boycotts.
The Maine Lobstermen’s Association, the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, and four other groups filed the lawsuit Monday against the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation in the U.S. District Court of Maine. They allege the aquarium has made false and defamatory statements about Maine lobster fishing practices and misled consumers about the fishery’s impact on the endangered North Atlantic right whale.
The lawsuit claims Seafood Watch, a program of the aquarium, urged food sellers and consumers to avoid eating lobster caught in the Gulf of Maine and George’s Bank in Maine. That caused stores including Whole Foods to drop the sale of Maine lobster, and eateries across the country like Cheesecake Factory followed suit.
“The Aquarium has falsely depicted the Maine lobster fishery as being directly responsible for right whale injuries and mortalities,” the lawsuit states.
For subscribers: Saving endangered right whales pits advocates against lobstermen
What does the lawsuit seek?
The suit is also filed by Bean Maine Lobster, Inc., Bug Catcher Inc., Atwood Lobster, LLC and Maine Lobster and Processing, LLC. The suit seeks to force the aquarium to remove “all defamatory statements concerning the Maine lobster industry and its fishing practices” from its websites and other published material. It also asks the aquarium to pay damages including, “the value of all business Plaintiffs have lost or will lose in the future” as a result of “defamatory statements.”
Gulf of Maine lobster designation
Seafood Watch said they changed their designation for Gulf of Maine lobster because entanglement in fishing gear is “the leading cause of serious injury and death to North Atlantic right whales.” They said that lobster pots, or traps, typically have few impacts on their environment, but that cumulative effects of large-scale fishing are “likely underestimated.” They gave the American lobster found in 11 other parts of the Atlantic Ocean the same designation.
The lawsuit alleges the aquarium has ignored statistical trends, “skews facts” and misrepresents data regarding the right whale. They allege that the aquarium relies heavily on Canadian entanglement data that is “irrelevant” to Maine lobstermen.
They also challenge the language used by the aquarium they say is not definitive proof that the lobster fishery is to blame for right whale deaths. They point to aquarium statements on documented entanglements from 2015 to 2019 involving trap gear that are “attributed to unknown fisheries, of which the lobster fishery may be a part.”
“This is not ‘science,’; it is conjecture,” the suit states. “There is no evidence supporting the aquarium’s statements about the Maine lobster fishery.”
Windmills and whales: Whale deaths exploited in ‘cynical disinformation’ campaign against offshore wind power, advocates say
Maine lobster industry fights back
The lobster fishery had been under increasingly strict regulations in the years leading up to the boycott by Seafood Watch. Those have included color-coded ropes and the use of ropes that break when making contact with a whale to prevent entanglement. Members of the lobster industry have said regulations related to the right whale have been crippling for the fishery.
Maine lobstermen have challenged the regulations, arguing no data exists to show a right whale has been harmed or killed by entanglement with Maine lobster ropes in 18 years. They reiterated that point in their lawsuit filed Monday.
The Maine Lobster Association and other groups previously filed a suit last year in federal court against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that implemented those regulations, as well. A federal appeals court heard arguments two weeks ago on that lawsuit, according to Bangor Daily News.
More: They thought this whale was entangled in fishing gear. It actually suffers from scoliosis.
Federal regulators say whales remain threatened
Federal regulators have remained firm in their stance on the threat the lobster fishery poses to the right whale population. Allison Ferreira of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the country’s fisheries, said last year the fact right whales have not been identified in any recent interactions with lobstermen does not mean mortalities don’t occur. She said of 1,600 entanglement scars and incidents evaluated by New England Aquarium researchers, only about 16 have been traced back to a fishing location, which is 1%.
Ferreira said large whales have become entangled in Maine fishermen’s gear since it became required to mark their gear with a state-specific color of purple in 2020. Last year, she said a humpback whale was disentangled from gear fished by a Maine fisherman in federal waters. She said two dead minke whales were also found in rope with purple marks in 2020 and 2021, and two disentangled minke whales were found in rope with purple marks.
[ad_2]
Source link