By Patrick Whittle
Associated Press
Some restaurants have removed lobster from their menu after a major environmental group warned that harvesting the shellfish puts whales at excessive risk, which can be injured or killed by becoming entangled in gear attached to traps on the bottom of the ocean. ocean.
Seafood Watch, which rates the sustainability of various seafood products, added US and Canadian lobster fishing to its “red list” of activities to avoid.
["His suffering was evident": beluga whale trapped in French river during rescue operation dies]
The organization, based at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, California, said in a report that
the fishing industry is a danger to North Atlantic right whales
because "current management measures do not mitigate the risk of the animal becoming entangle, nor do they promote the recovery of the species.”
Thousands of companies rely on Seafood Watch's recommendations
to decide which products to buy, and many have pledged to avoid any that appear on the red list.
Fudio / Getty Images/iStockphoto
A spokesman for Blue Apron, a New York food retailer, said they stopped offering their lobster box before the report was issued and that all the seafood they use meets Seafood Watch guidelines.
HelloFresh, the German-based lunch box company that is the largest of its kind operating in the United States, also promised to stop selling the seafood.
Two Argentines on paddleboards come across a dozen whales off the south coast of Buenos Aires
Aug. 17, 202200:28
Seafood Watch rates more than 2,000 seafood products as “best choice”, “good alternative” and “to avoid” depending on how sustainable they are managed.
His recommendations have had an impact before
, such as when he redlisted the Louisiana shrimp fishery, which pushed for protection of sea turtles.
That activity was later removed from the red list.
The lobster fishing industry has come under scrutiny by Seafood Watch for the risk it poses.
Fewer than 340 North Atlantic right whales are counted
and getting caught in fishing nets is one of the main threats they face, the other being colliding with ships, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have said. among other groups.
The population of these gigantic animals, decimated generations ago during the era of commercial whaling, has dwindled in recent years.
[Seaworld San Diego's youngest orca just died and activists demand explanations]
The lobster fishing industry, which is also facing increased federal fishing restrictions to protect whales, objected to Seafood Watch's rating.
In Maine, where most of America's lobster comes ashore, there hasn't been a documented interaction with a right whale in nearly two decades, said Patrice McCarron, director of the Maine Lobster Association.
“
Lobster is one of the most sustainable fisheries in the world
thanks to effective management practices shared by generations of fishermen that include strict protection of both the lobster resource and right whales,” he said.
Coastguards try to free a whale entangled in a fishing net
July 20, 202001:14
American and Canadian fishermen target the same species:
Homarus americanus
(the American lobster) which
is popular as live shellfish and in processed products such as rolls and ravioli.
Most reach the shores of New England and eastern Canada and are a key part of their economy and culture.
The US lobster fishery is also one of the most lucrative in the country.
In 2021, it generated more than 900 million dollars in the docks, after more than 130 million pounds (59 million kilos) of this crustacean were caught.
[Whale 'Lands' on Boat in 'Crazy' Crash Caught on Video]
Seafood Watch partners with major seafood buyers including Compass Group and Cheesecake Factory who did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.
A spokesman for one of them, Mars Petcare, said the company has no lobster in its supply chain.
Environmental groups said Seafood Watch's decision puts a spotlight on the fishery and the need to do more to protect the whales.
“Those who manage the fishery must increase protections to save North Atlantic right whales so that vendors, consumers and restaurants can put lobster and crab back on their menus,” said campaign manager Oceana, Gib Brogan.