There is almost 90,000 porpoises thriving in the waters off Maine. Unfortunately for fishermen federal regulators say far too many porpoises in the Gulf of Maine are drowning in fishing gear, specifically gillnets. In what amounts to saving deer from getting hit by cars by closing down highways during rutting season, a provision in the federal law will close down a busy fishing ground in the Gulf of Maine to gillnets for two months this year, starting in October.
The Republic via Gateway Pundit reports:
Fisherman Lou Williams said he lands about 50 percent of his annual catch of bottom-dwelling groundfish during October and November, when the shutdown is scheduled. According to federal numbers, fishermen pulled in about $4 million in revenues during that period over the past two years.
The loss is huge in an industry that’s fighting for its future as it faces significant cuts in key stocks such as cod in the Gulf of Maine and yellowtail flounder in Georges Bank. There’s also no obvious end to the annual closure to protect porpoise, since the requirement to reduce accidental porpoise deaths down to 70 per year looks a long way off. The team of regulators, fisherman and environmentalists that devised the closure could conceivably decide there are better alternatives to shutting down the area, but they don’t meet until this fall.
The Obama administration will not be happy until every single small business is either bankrupt or under complete control of the federal government.
