Whole Foods decision to pull lobster divides enviros, pols

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Environmental groups are once again at odds with politicians and fishermen in New England in the wake of a decision by high-end retail giant Whole Foods to stop selling Maine lobster.

Whole Foods recently said that it will stop selling lobster from the Gulf of Maine at hundreds of its stores around the country. The company cited decisions by a pair of sustainability organizations to take away their endorsements of the U.S. lobster fishing industry.

The organizations, Marine Stewardship Council and Seafood Watch, both cited concerns about risks to rare North Atlantic right whales from fishing gear. Entanglement in gear is one of the biggest threats to the whales.

The decision by Whole Foods was an “important action to protect the highly endangered” whale, said Virginia Carter, an associate with the Save America's Wildlife Campaign at Environment America Research & Policy Center.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/whole-foods-decision-to-pull-lobster-divides-enviros-pols/ar-AA14ACXQ

[BWdem4life]

1. Whole Paycheck

That's our nickname for Whole Foods.

Cannot afford.

[Big Blue Marble]

2. Good for Whole Foods.

Actually sticking to their commitment to selling sustainable seafood.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. Related: Trump's pitch to Maine lobstermen falls flat

Posted by left-of-center2012

Thu Aug 6, 2020: Trump's pitch to Maine lobstermen falls flat

President Trump is struggling to win over Maine voters with his recent pledge to lift restrictions for the state’s lobster industry. Trump was beaming when he traveled to the state just two months ago to tell lobstermen he was reversing protections for some 5,000 miles of ocean territory in a bid to open it to fishing.
“You’re going to go fishing in that area now that you haven’t seen for a long time,” Trump said at a roundtable with representatives from Maine’s fishing industry. “Lobstermen and seafood producers, I want to just congratulate you.”

But the state’s lobstermen aren’t celebrating. That’s because the area Trump aims to reopen is 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod — far beyond the reach of Maine’s day-boat lobstermen. “This doesn’t help the Maine fisherman at all,” Leroy Weed, 79, who has had a lobster license since he was 10 years old. Most of Maine’s lobstering takes place within three miles of shore, and don’t typically travel more than 30 miles offshore.

Maine lobster hauls steadily increased during the Obama administration. The real turmoil for the industry came in 2018, when the Chinese market vanished under a 35 percent tariff on lobster. After Trump’s tariffs hit, Maine lobster trade with China dropped 48 percent.

The president has argued that lobstermen’s income was reduced not by tariffs but by Obama’s designation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off Cape Cod. “They took away your livelihood. It’s ridiculous,” he said.

However, the Obama-era restrictions on lobstering in the area aren’t slated to take effect until 2023.

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/510792-trumps-pitch-to-maine-lobstermen-falls-flat