Ed Thelander blasted the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit in Boston upholding a ban on lobster fishing across a nearly 1,000 mile zone in Maine waters. Thelander asks his opponent, Democratic Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, why the 1st Congressional District representative hasn’t been fighting harder for Maine lobstermen and women.
“The ban just doesn’t make sense,” Thelander, a retired Navy SEAL, stressed. “Right whales aren’t migrating through those waters, and it is well past time for the regulators and the courts to catch up with the actual science. The lobster industry is part of our heritage, and they need someone in Washington who’s got their backs.”
Thelander spent the Fourth of July weekend swimming between lobster boats gathered off Chebeague Island in Casco Bay, climbing on board from boat to boat and talking with lobstermen about the many challenges they face right now, including the drop in wholesale prices driven by runaway inflation.
“This ruling is yet another bump in a long road. My opponent is routinely backed by groups that push the regulations currently strangling the lobster industry. The regulators down in Washington need to hear one thing: if they continue strangling Maine businesses, we’re going to re-write the law and set what’s wrong right.”
Eighth-generation Swan’s Island lobsterman Jason Joyce weighed in, “The National Marine Fisheries Service’s own data reveals Right whales don't traverse that area. Additionally, the 1000 square miles the closed area is suspiciously close to an area sought as an offshore wind lease site by multinational corporations and state and federal proponents of offshore wind projects. The last 2 years have brought higher fuel and bait costs coupled with the negative effects of 40-year high inflation. Maine's 5000 lobster fishing families who are dependent on commercial fishing to keep our communities alive want to send a clear message to those seeking to replace our lobster industry with destructive offshore wind turbines: We will fight for our heritage, defend the environment, and oppose all efforts to industrialize the Gulf of Maine. I can think of no better person to deliver this message to D.C. than veteran Navy SEAL Ed Thelander. If Mainers truly want to end bad policies that hurt our small businesses, we can't elect representatives that defend those bad policies, year after year.”
Thelander recently published an article in The Maine Wire discussing the challenges facing the lobster industry.
