Maine is starting a new program to learn more about the North Atlantic right whale, which is in danger of disappearing. With more than $17 million in funding, the state wants to find out where these whales are and use the information to help Maine’s fishing industry.
Scientists from the state will use 26 new devices in the Gulf of Maine to listen for the whales. They will also hire a company to fly small planes over the area to spot the whales. This work will happen during spring and fall when the whales are moving along the coast.
The goal is to gather important information about where the whales are in Maine. This data will be carefully reviewed, published, and shared with government officials who will make new rules in the next five years to protect the whales from getting caught in fishing gear.
Maine’s lobster industry has been saying that the rules to protect the whales are not based on enough information, and the court agreed. Tracking a species with less than 350 individuals is very hard, and everyone wants more details about where the whales are in the Gulf of Maine.
The Department of Marine Resources in Maine will have about two dozen people working on this research. The plan is not to repeat what other groups are already doing but to fill in missing information. The hope is to use the collected information in real-time to manage lobster fishing and find better solutions than just closing large areas.
The funds will also pay for special fishing gear that can be used when needed, and Maine lobstermen will be compensated for trying it out. Even though some fishermen are not sure about these changes, the department says it’s important to try new things to protect the whales. The $17 million comes from a federal spending bill, and it will also pause new regulations that were supposed to be in place to protect the whales.
