In Massachusetts there is rubber band that binds each lobster’s claws to create awareness among people to refrain from eating lobsters. Lobsters caught off the state’s coast will now have green bands on their claws stamped with “Massachusetts” and images of whale tails. Massachusetts is the first, and so far only, state to require lobster hunters to connect traps with rope that sinks to the ocean floor instead of lines that float and pose a danger to whales. Bernie Feeney, a 60-year-old lobsterman in Boston, told that other areas fight these mandates but this campaign especially makes the public to know.
This campaign is being led by environmental groups, including Ocean Conservancy, and the state Division of Marine Fisheries. It is said that lobsters are caught in traps strung together by the dozens and attached to buoys on each end. According to whale advocates when floating lines are used to connect the traps, it creates arcs of rope between them that can entangle whales.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed that between 2002 and 2006 there were 145 whale entanglements along the East Coast and in adjacent Canadian waters, and 21 deaths due to entanglement among large-whale species. Regina Asmutis-Silvia of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, opined that the green-band campaign gives customers a way to support that choice.
For Maine lobstermen the sinking rope doesn’t work on their rocky ocean bottom because it wears out more quickly and gets easily snagged. They also say the right whale, the focus of conservation efforts, is rarely seen in Maine coastal waters, unlike off Massachusetts. It is expected that the green-band campaign will soon take over the seafood markets and make people aware of the situation.
