By Sheila Dassatt
We have shirts with this slogan on it from back in the 90’s which was when this whole threat on our fishing industry began. It’s kinda like Chicken Little saying that the sky is falling and not too many people paying attention to it. Now in 2024 the threat is becoming a real big reality call. Or should I say “do you believe me now?” It’s all in front of us, not just in black and white but true living color.
About when we thought that we couldn’t be faced with another threat to our fishing industry, we had the super storms of January 2024. This has pretty much destroyed the working waterfront on the Coast of Maine along with many family “heirloom” docks and workshops that have been there for many years. It is so sad to see these shops that have graced Maine Coast postcards floating around and breaking apart. These old workshops cannot be restored, they will be just a memory.
As I sat and thought about what to write in this month’s article, I saw picture after picture of coastal devastation. A lot of this devastation belongs to people that are close to me and it breaks my heart to see it. Now I know that we have no control over Mother Nature, but we can do our best to try to help these folks out in some way, shape or form.
The big word is that a lot of insurance companies are not planning to cover the damage as it is considered “An Act of God.” Well isn’t that interesting, seeing that God has been removed from just about everything that is political! I guess when it comes to doing the right thing for these folks that have paid their insurance premiums for years, it has come in handy. This is all a very sad state of affairs.
I don’t want to go “negative” on you, but the truth lately has been unbelievable! I’m not a big social media follower, but I did see where a young right whale washed up on the shore and rope was wrapped around it to make it look like an entanglement.
That’s going a little too far with this. I may be wrong about this because a lot of what we see on social media is photo shopped and fake. As far as I know, there is an increase of right whales this year and only two deceased ones. There was one that had a ship strike and the other was a sick calf. We are also making major breakthroughs with being able to detect a whale if it is within so many feet of your vessel. This is a positive finding and it seems to be working with the pilot experiments. Stay tuned for more information on this.
We are now seeing posters in public areas in places such as Florida that show whales with rope wrapped around them. The solution on these posters is ropeless gear. This is how they are promoting this in areas other than Maine. Now there’s funds from the government to pay the fishermen for trying the ropeless gear. I have stated in my social media comments that this is all a big “bait and switch.” Fishermen are enticed with money to try this, I believe it is $400 a pop. What does that figure is you have a twenty five trap trawl? Do the math. Again, this may not be accurate either, but it is out there, it is being tested in certain areas and they are getting paid to do it. One we start accepting this pay to try it, we’re walking right into their trap…No pun intended. And the kicker to all of this is that the money being spent for all of this development is being handed out by the Federal government, and you know where that money comes from….our taxes.
To visualize the gear positions and on-demand trawls, you can download and subscribe to EdgeTech Trap Tracker for a subscription fee of $24.99 and $14.99 subscription fee on the Apple or Google Play app stores with any smartphone or tablet.
Participating vessels will fish trap trawls without any surface gear marks in the “potential on-demand testing areas.
With what information that I have just provided, it looks to me that this is still a big money maker for all involved. If we are making progress with tracking whales, then why do we need to take this extra step and expense to convert to this travesty? I am thinking of the young folks that are finding it difficult to simply purchase a fishing vessel these days, let alone the expense of fishing ropeless gear. What is going to happen to our traditional fishery as we have known it for many years?
Seriously, how many fishermen that we know will have the funds to participate in this new plan for lobstering? I understand that this isn’t my “Grampa’s Fishery” any more, but this is all very sophisticated technology that a lot just will not be interested in.
It’s been eleven years since my Dad passed, but if he could see all of this now, he would roll in his grave, along with my grandfather and great grandfather.
Let’s see if we can do something to help restore our working waterfront and preserve what we have left. This is very important to our preservation and survival for our future.
Yes, we are the Endangered Ones now!
