Our iconic lobster fishery in Maine is in a struggle for its very survival – not against nature, but against determined human foes: out-of-state environmentalists, overreaching bureaucrats, and politicians more worried about walking the line than taking a stand.
Friends, we can’t afford to let this continue, or the longstanding Maine tradition that started with fishing dories and Friendship sloops and became the world renown industry it is today, will be coming to an abrupt end. It doesn’t need to be this way.
The recent “red listing” of our lobsters by the California-based Seafood Watch is only one tentacle of this spreading threat.
Seafood Watch didn’t even bother debating the science when approached by representatives of our lobster industry. They don’t care that they have it wrong, they laugh at us for even trying to reason with them. They’re just following orders and dancing to the tune their funders are playing. These are people with deep pockets and powerful connections. And from the sound of it, they want Maine lobsters out of stores across America.
Conservationists of the Right Whale have promoted fake science to push for stricter regulations from the federal government’s National Marine Fishery Service (NMFS) and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) over when, where and how Maine lobsterman can earn a living.
As a result, the federal government is burdening our lobster fishery with increasingly stringent regulations, with too little time to comply. Many of these battles are now in the courts. But what all of this has made clear to me is we need a fighter down in Washington ready to push back against those who just aren’t paying Maine much regard.
If elected, I will fight for you. I will work to review funding for these agencies and find like-minded senators willing to put a hold on all relevant nominees until we get the answers we deserve and make them take real facts into consideration.
My opponent just hasn’t been showing up on this issue as she tries to walk the line, despite living on an island where so many families depend on the fishery for their livelihoods. She tries to balance the concerns of the real people in her district with those of well-heeled, out-of-state environmentalists, as the lobster industry is being regulated out of existence.
We just can’t afford that anymore. What Washington needs to hear from Maine right now is that we have not yet begun to fight!
