Lobstermen and their supporters, including top-elected officials, will rally in Stonington on Sunday to make a united plea for their livelihoods.
“This is something that really has grown legs of its own, and is a way for us to feel a little like we have a voice," says organizer Julie Eaton.
Eaton fishes 800 traps out of Stonington. She says lobstermen are galvanized by pending federal rules that aim to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales from entanglement in fishing gear.
They could force lobstermen to fish fewer traps or put more traps on each rope-line they haul. And that, she says, would be dangerous, particularly for older lobstermen, because individual traplines would become too heavy and unwieldy.
"This is about fishermen uniting for the common good of the industry, to keep our fishermen safe," Eaton says.
Maine's Congressional delegation is pushing the feds to hold off enacting the proposed rules. And Governor Janet Mills says the state will make its own analysis of the risk to whales, one that would require less onerous gear changes.
Most of the delegation and Mills are expected to attend the rally in Stonington which gets started at noon Sunday.
