Federal Government Enacts Whale Protection Act

And no one is happy about it. Not the lobstermen:

"There’s no way the industry can comply by October 2008," she said. "I don’t know what the [formal] response to the rule is going to be, but there definitely needs to be a response."

Mike Dassatt, board member of DELA, was highly critical of the mandated change. He said its financial effect on Maine will be significant.

"We’re talking about a whole state that will be impacted — tens of thousands of jobs," Dassatt said. "It’s like me telling Tiger Woods how to go golfing. Someone sitting behind a desk in Washington, D.C., should not tell me how to set lobster gear."

And not the whales' protectors:

"The net effect is that whales will be receiving less protection off the coast of Maine than they have before," Williamson said.

Williamson said that while the environmental groups recognize the economic importance of Maine’s $300 million lobster fishing industry, they believe that Maine fishermen, who have spearheaded resource protections in the past, can adapt.

One thing is for sure. You should expect your lobster to cost more in the near future.

Some Good News

It might be too early to really tell, but it appears that the ban on herring trawling is having a positive impact:

Fishermen say they are seeing more herring returning to the Gulf of Maine, where a ban on trawlers that drag nets through the water has been in effect through the summer.

"There has been lots of sea life, and it kind of amazes me," Daniel Fill, captain of a Rockland-based fishing boat, told the Portland Press Herald. "I have seen fish where I haven't seen them for years. They're in nice, big bunches for miles."

Other purse seine herring fishermen, whale-watching companies and tuna fishermen are reporting similar observations. They also say they see more sea birds, dolphins, tuna and seals, which feed on herring.