A lobster raises its claws after being caught off Spruce Head, Maine on August 31, 2021. On Monday, March 13, 2023, a gaggle of Maine companies and commerce teams filed a lawsuit in opposition to the California Aquarium for advising seafood patrons to not purchase lobster.
Robert F. Bucati/AP
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Robert F. Bucati/AP
A lobster raises its claws after being caught off Spruce Head, Maine on August 31, 2021. On Monday, March 13, 2023, a gaggle of Maine companies and commerce teams filed a lawsuit in opposition to the California Aquarium for advising seafood patrons to not purchase lobster.
Robert F. Bucati/AP
PORTLAND, Maine. A coalition representing the Maine lobster business is suing an aquarium on the opposite facet of the nation for advising seafood patrons to keep away from shopping for a wide range of lobsters, principally from their state.
Business teams together with the Maine Lobster Fishing Affiliation are suing California’s Monterey Bay Aquarium for defamation, arguing in a lawsuit filed on Monday that their prized catch shouldn’t be on a “pink checklist” printed by Seafood Watch. , the save program it manages.
Final yr, Seafood Watch included US and Canadian lobsters on its checklist of seafood to keep away from because of the menace posed to uncommon whales by tangled fishing gear used to hunt American lobsters, the species that make up nearly all of the US lobster market.
The critically endangered North American whales quantity solely about 340 people and have declined lately.
However the lobster business is telling the U.S. District Courtroom in Maine that the aquarium’s suggestions are based mostly on unhealthy science and incorrectly painting lobster fishing as a menace to whales. The lawsuit asks the court docket to order the aquarium to take away the “defamatory language” from its web site and supplies, the court docket file says.
“This is a vital lawsuit that may assist undo the injury achieved by individuals who do not know how lobster fishers care about defending the ecosystem and the ocean,” mentioned John Petersdorf, chief govt officer of Bean Maine Lobster Inc., one of many plaintiffs in declare, assertion.
The Aquarium claims that its suggestions are appropriate and based mostly on the most effective out there proof. It says that whales are certainly weak to entanglement in fishing gear.
The lawsuit ignores “in depth proof that this fishery poses a critical menace to the survival of endangered North Atlantic proper whales and seeks to restrict the First Modification rights of a beloved establishment that educates the general public concerning the significance of a wholesome ocean.” ” mentioned Kevin Connor, spokesman for the aquarium.
One other group, the Marine Stewardship Council, final yr suspended a sustainability certification it had awarded to the Maine lobster business over issues about hurt to whales. The lack of sustainability tips has brought about some retailers to cease promoting lobster.
The American lobster business is predicated primarily in Maine. The business delivered about 98 million kilos of lobster to the docks final yr. That is lower than the earlier yr, however traditionally fairly a excessive quantity.
