Stonington, Maine – Virginia Olsen has drawn lobsters from the cold waters of the Atlantic of Maine for decades while observing the threats for the assembly of the state’s soul industry.
Commercial imbalances with CanadaHard regulations on fishing and wind farms on the high seas that rise as skyscrapers in open waters pose three of those threats, said Olsen, part of the fifth generation in his family to make a living in the lobster trade.
That is why she was encouraged last month when President Donald Trump signed a Executive order That promises to restore US fishing to his former glory. The order promises to crush fishing regulations, and Olsen said it will allow fishermen to do what they do best: fish.
That will make a big difference in communities such as his Stonington home, the most busy lobster fishing port in the country, said Olsen. It is a small island city of sinuous streets, seagulls and ceiling houses from Mansard with an economy that depends almost completely on commercial fishing, about three hours on the coast from Portland, Maine’s largest city.
Olsen knows firsthand how much he has changed over the years. Hundreds of fish and seafood populations worldwide have decreased to dangerously low levels, alarming scientists and causing the restrictions and capture limits that Trump’s order could wash with the blow of a pen. But he is encouraged that the livelihoods of the people who work the traps and launch the networks have become a priority in distant places where they often felt that their voices were not heard.
“I think it’s time to have the conversation about what regulations the industry needs. We are fishing differently than 100 years ago,” he said. “If everything looks, we should be looking at the regulations within the fishing industry.”
But if the interests of fishing and lobster finally have a seat on the table, the questions become the amount of shellfish that can be served there, and for how long. Trump’s order of April 17, called “Restoration of the competitiveness of American seafood,” promises a review of the way in which America fishing and cites a national commercial seafood deficit of more than $ 20 billion as the reason to do so. The order asks the Federal Government to reduce the regulatory burden of fishermen at the end of this month.
It arrives at a time when conservation groups and many marine scientists say that the ocean needs more regulation, no less. One often cited 2020 study Directed by a scientist at the University of British Columbia, he analyzed more than 1,300 fish and invertebrate populations and discovered that 82% were below the levels that can produce maximum sustainable yields. The University said the study “discovered global decreases, some serious, of many popularly consumed species.”
Trump’s order prioritizes conservation trade. It also requires the development of a comprehensive seafood trade strategy and a review of existing marine monuments, which are protected areas underwater, to see if any must be opened for fishing. At least one, the National Marine Monument of the Heritage of the Pacific Islands, has already been reopened.
Many commercial fishermen and fishing trade groups praised the order. The members of the industry, one of the oldest in the country, have long argued that heavy regulations, many destined to protect health Of fish populations: leave the United States into a competitive disadvantage of the fleets of countries that do not have the same type of load. That disadvantage is a great piece of why the United States imports more than two thirds of their seafood, they argue.
“The president’s executive order recognizes the challenges faced by our families and fishing communities, and we appreciate the commitment to reduce the noisy regulations and strengthen the competitiveness of US seafood,” said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobadores Association.
Some fishermen, including Maine’s lobster, Don Mchenan, said they hope that industry members can fish in areas of the ocean that have closed them for years. Mchenan said he also expects the rhythm of the new regulations to slow down.
“As long as they don’t put us anymore on us,” said Mchenan. “We will see, time will say.”
But support for deregulation is not unanimous among fishermen. Some say that strong conservation laws are critical to protect the species in which fishermen trust to make a living.
In Alaska, for example, Matt Wiebe said the executive order “terrifies it.” A commercial fisherman with more than 50 years of experience in salmon fishing, said the order could damage the salmon fishing of Bristol Bay Bay, which has received praise from sustainability organizations due to careful management of the fish supply.
In the absence of management, he said that the world’s world’s largest salmon fishery could follow the New England path cod fishing businesswhich collapsed due in large part to overfishca and has never recovered.
“Since New England fishermen lost their cod fishery due to overfishca, many other fishing respects and depended on conservation efforts,” Wiebe said. “We fish because it is what we do, and conservation efforts mean that we and our children can fish in the future.”
The executive order came at a time when commercial fishermen of the United States are dealing with the environmental challenges and the decline of some once commercializable species. Maine historical shrimp Closed fishing more than a decade ago, California salmon The industry is fighting through the closures and the amount of fish stock in the supercharged federal list has grown in recent years.
There is also the imminent question of what Trump’s trade The war with the main seafood producers such as Canada and China will mean for the American industry, not to mention US consumers.
For many in the lobster business and Maine’s fishing, the answer is clear: reduce regulations and let them do their own.
“We definitely believe that the industry is too regulated as a whole,” said Dustin Delano, a lobster of the fourth generation of Maine who is also director of operations of the New England Fishermen Administration Association. “We hope this helps safely. It seeks to start that American strategy first in fishing.”
___
