Published by Portland Press Herald on February 20, 2025.
JONESPORT — A marine scientist, a politician and a lobsterman walked onto a dock. Together, in frigid wind chill, they pulled experimental, ropeless lobstering gear from the water — gear that most lobstermen loathe.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources held its first public demonstration day last Tuesday, where anyone — in and out of the industry — could see how the gear, still being developed, might work. And for some lobstermen, it felt like the first time the state was listening.
State officials and representatives of fishing groups weren’t there to convince anyone that the equipment, meant to curb whale entanglements, works. They knew it would be a losing battle.
The traps get plunged into the water and sink to the bottom, untethered to buoys on the surface. With the tap of a button, they can be summoned to rise up to the surface.
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