The North Atlantic right whale has been listed as endangered since 1970. There has been an uptick in whale deaths across Canadian waters stretching into Maine’s coastline. These deaths are primarily due to ship strikes, rope entanglements from fishermen’s nets, and a decline in new births at the end of calving seasons. Oceanographers and lawmakers struggle to balance protecting these giant creatures and preserving the long-standing lobster industry within the region. 

Researchers have been exploring the causation of the whale population decline to lessen the further impact on the creatures. Scientist Mark Baumgartner from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a private educational facility in Massachusetts, concluded in an interview with Maine Public Radio that the increase in whale deaths and the solution to solving the issue were connected to lobster fishing in the Gulf of Maine. He believes that the species could face extinction within the next twenty years with the rising trend in deaths and a decline in new births. 

In that same interview with Maine Radio, another marine scientist, Erin Meyer-Gutbrod, from the University of California at Santa Barbara, took a different approach to the growing crisis these whales face. Her research indicated that the threat to this species was primarily due to the new habitats that pods had migrated to, many of which are areas where protective legislation is not already in place.

Both conclusions seem to be clear, that the local fishing in the region plays a role in the survival of the North Atlantic right whale. In an area reliant on their expansive crab and lobster industry to support the local economy, stakeholders believe they’re doing all they can to prop up the struggling species without sinking the crab and lobster industries. In response to federal regulations to protect the whales, Lobstermen have already made adjustments to their processes, cutting back on the number of buoy lines used for catching and utilizing ground lines that sink below the water instead of floating lines that easily trap the whales.

Should saving the whales take priority over an industry that supports the region’s economy?