Submitted by bostondotcom t3_z2r8l7 in Maine
Bywater t1_ixhz3na wrote
It's like the meme, "tHE MarKet WilL deCiDe!" followed immediately by, "No, not like that!"
Folks hating on the MSC are just dumb, I remember when they hit the scene after they overfished the grand banks in the early 90's. There is a reason that they exist and that is mostly that capitalism doesn't give a fuck about anything but that next quarters increase in profit. I go back and forth on the whales, but am back in the whales camp due to the garbage arguments they lobster industry is raising. This whole "we have never found one dead in lines" is fucking nonsense, everyone who has ever pulled knows that entanglements drowned them, you are never going to see them and that 80% of those that are still alive that they study show wounds from getting bound up in tac.
They should have come right out of the gate making the argument about Canadian fishers (who also are for sure fucking them up) and pushing for some kind of joint solution to give them a chance. Instead they leaned into right wing politics and are calling people "woke" for caring about the whales. Welp, guilty I do care, so fuck you running Bub. A smart feller would be coming up with that next hustle now before the pinch.
OniExpress t1_ixik6op wrote
> I go back and forth on the whales
Same, but regardless I'm fine seeing this all happen because we're practically sterilizing the ocean and any little improvement is better than nothing. The global fishing industry isn't going to stop itaelf.
BraskysAnSOB t1_ixjajbl wrote
Lobstermen have done everything that’s been asked of them to protect the whales. Weak links in the line, break aways at the buoy, stopped using float rope, and use gear markers.
You’re saying they should be shut down because you think that right whales are being killed in their gear. You can’t prove it, but you just assume. They float when they die, literally how they got the name. So where are all the ones you claim are dying? Is that how you want other laws to be written?
Bywater t1_ixjmoa4 wrote
> They float when they die
Marine life bound with fishing lines to the point they can not struggle to the surface to breath obviously do not. Fuck me, that doesn't make even the first pass of critical thought, how can you repeat that line of garbage without realizing how dumb you sound?
BraskysAnSOB t1_ixjru39 wrote
You missed the part about weak links in the line. What gear will be hanging off a whale? You have no comprehension of the subject you’re spouting off about. Do more research and come back with facts.
Bywater t1_ixjtpr7 wrote
Because my research is as good as the experts who do the shit for a living? Or that I should trust some lobsterman or crabber whose fixed lines is actually killing them?
I swear this is the biggest problem with society these days, you give any fuckwit the internet and they can for sure find some asshole shouting out some shit they want to be true so they take that, call it "research" and we are all the worse off for it.
West_Ad_8279 t1_ixli1nn wrote
You’re one of the reasons this world is going to shi*
pab_guy t1_ixj9e34 wrote
Unfortunately they are using an axe rather than scalpel here. There are plenty of areas that practically never see right whales, like Penobscot bay, and no distinction is being made.
eLearningChris t1_ixm5qpm wrote
And of course, once the lobstermen have been cleared out the construction begins on the offshore wind in the very areas they are saying need to be free of human activity in the water column. Now don't get me wrong I want both lobster and offshore wind but I'm finding it all curiously convenient time-wise. I suspect there is something fishy going on.
King_O_Walpole t1_ixi34jl wrote
Your opinion is bullshit.
The lobsterman are scapegoats/low hanging fruit so the government can “appear” to actually be doing something.
Where are all the new regulations on cargo/oil ships that strike and kill the most whales?
Lobstering has minimal impact on right whales, that is a proven fact.
Bywater t1_ixi7dg5 wrote
You can find countless pictures of them swimming around covered in gear, all most all of those they track show injury's from entanglement, so your "low hanging fruit" is clearly more than just a scapegoat. The regulations to protect them from strikes is right here, but hey, don't let what is actually going on get in the way of your "Proven fact" provided by the lobster industry...
Engineering_is_life t1_ixifprh wrote
Whenever I see a picture of a tangled up whale it's never Maine lobster gear, it's usually Canadian crab fishing gear.
Bywater t1_ixigeup wrote
>Where are all the new regulations on cargo/oil ships that strike and kill the most whales?
I was answering the question King asked. I agree, it does look like snow crab gear, which is why I suggested a more joint approach to solve the problem. Instead the fuckwits went with "Fixed lines don't drown whales in Maine!" which is clearly some bullshit. They get bound up and either tear themselves up breaking free or end up a whalefall.
Engineering_is_life t1_ixijqwe wrote
Then why are Maine lobstermen supposed to take the fall on this?
Maine lobstermen operate in the Gulf of Maine, not Georges Bank. Right whales migrate through Georges Bank and not the Gulf of Maine. There's little to no interaction between them.
Only the fishing gear that's present in Georges Bank is harming the whales, and it's all Canadian. Give them shit, not Mainers.
Bywater t1_iximoyd wrote
They absolutely migrate through the Gulf, how much is still in question but back before they were hunted almost to extinction they were present.
Engineering_is_life t1_ixiou0u wrote
That paper you linked doesn't say anything about finding right whales in the Gulf. It just says they're going to use passive acoustic sensors to listen for them. If anything it'll probably prove how rare it is.
You can look at the interactive map on whalemap.orgwhalemap.org and see just how uncommon it is for Right whales to enter the Gulf.
And why would they? It's far out of their way to come out of the Gulf of st Lawrence, loop around nova Scotia and come back up into the Gulf of Maine, then swim down and around to Nantucket sound. Georges Bank on the other hand is directly along their route. So that's where the damage is done
Bywater t1_ixjnbk1 wrote
>That paper you linked doesn't say anything about finding right whales in the Gulf.
The literal title of the link was "Listening for Right Whales in the Gulf of Maine" so if you are not even going to question your own bullshit enough to even read the title, I will just leave you to it. Also they follow food as they migrate, not a GPS for fucks sakes.
ServiceMX t1_ixjsgpx wrote
"Listening for Right Whales in the Gulf of Maine" is not the same as "Hearing Right Whales in the Gulf of Maine"
eLearningChris t1_ixm6x1r wrote
I hate to be a conspiracy guy but I wonder how much of this is a distraction from the damage about to be done by the offshore wind. Now don't get me wrong I think we need offshore wind and think the environmental damage is a reasonable price to pay. But I'm frustrated by the lack of honesty with the whole situation.
eLearningChris t1_ixm77si wrote
And Maine lobster gear needs to be marked with identification that can trace it back to the lobster boat. So if there were ever a whale that was killed by Maine lobster gear they would be able to ID the boat in question. This is why when anyone says they have evidence I tend to want to ask for the identification details on the recovered gear.
West_Ad_8279 t1_ixlhz9i wrote
You were wrong seconds into your post. Entanglements drown them? Do you realize the whales got their name “Right Whale” because they were the right ones to hunt as they would float when dead?
Bywater t1_ixmi23e wrote
One more fucking time, as this is clearly hard for some of you to understand. When a whale dies of entanglement it is because it is usually because drowns, as I am sure you know they do have to surface to breathe. As they accumulate more and more fixed lines the weight of it makes it impossible to surface as they grow more and more exhausted. When they finally give up the ghost, the weight of all that tac keeps them under. If that whale, with all it's strength and endurance can no manage to surface then the natural tendency for them to "float" on death is sure as fuck not going to be able to. The other way entanglements can kill them is if the wounds caused by the lines become infected.
svengoalie t1_ixi2opy wrote
So you are enjoying seeing your neighbors get screwed over because some vote Republican. Got it.
Bywater t1_ixi6cna wrote
Ya, that is just what I said. Hell, even as strawmen go, that shit weak Bub. It's also not what I am putting down, most of my kin is republican as fuck. They don't vote for the GoP anymore for the most part but that whole scene is a shitshow at this point. What I do not enjoy is something as broad as "lets not kill all the whales" lumped in with "lets not frack until the water catches on fire" getting lumped into politics. Straight up as soon as someone labels me a something I am not or uses a popular talking head phrase or better yet a word like communism or socialism incorrectly I have a natural reaction to no longer give a fuck what you have to say.
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments