Rep. Jared Golden is taking an ocean battle to Twitter. Maine’s 2nd Congressional District congressman posted a three-page letter to President Donald Trump online, fighting for Maine’s lobster industry.
In the letter, Rep. Golden states the new proposed regulations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) could be a “grave threat” to thousands of Maine jobs connected.
It’s in the wake of a series of deadly right whale deaths in the past month. Six whales died in the Gulf of St. Lawrence off Canada, according to the Associated Press. Golden states some of the deaths were attributed to boat strikes, and there is no evidence linking any right whale death to Maine.
There are 400 North Atlantic right whales left, making the species one of the most endangered large whales, according to NOAA Fisheries. Golden is hoping his plea can slow-down swift regulations by the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, tasked with eliminating risk to marine mammals by fishing gear.
North Pacific and Southern right whales feed on krill and small fish in a method similar to a strainer. Following the food often leads right whales into vulnerable areas, Nick Record, a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine told the Associated Press.
“Animals like whales that have to figure out where their food is, they have to figure out a new environment as they go,” Record said. “You can almost think of the whales like climate migration.”
Golden says one way NOAA plans on reducing whale entanglements is by eliminating 60% of vertical line traps, a regulation that could impact lobster fishing in Maine.