It’s no secret that U.S. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine is wedded to the lobster industry and wears being its fiercest advocate as a badge of honor.

Shame on him. It’s a disgrace that he’s now putting the lives of North Atlantic right whales at risk so people can have lobster rolls!

Golden has introduced H.R. 8509, legislation that would block the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from developing science-based measures to protect North Atlantic right whales from entanglement in fishing gear until 2035.  There are only about 384 of these whales left, making them one of the most critically endangered whales in the world. Entanglement in vertical fishing lines remains one of the two primary causes of serious injury and death—the other is vessel strikes.

“Whether it’s entanglement by active or discarded fishing gear, it is unforgivable that North Atlantic right whales have to pay the price for this hazardous industry with their lives,” said Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals. 

Please take action today and tell your U.S. Senator and Representative to oppose Rep. Golden’s bill. You can find your U.S. reps here: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative. You can find your U.S. Senators here: https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm.

Let them know that fishing gear from Maine does in fact entangle whales. The young North Atlantic right whale known by scientists as 5120 washed up dead on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, on Jan. 28, 2024. Federal investigators confirmed her death was the result of a chronic entanglement in fishing gear that had painfully embedded in her tail and restricted her growth over the course of 17 months. They concluded that the rope was consistent with the rope used in Maine state water trap/pot buoy lines.

Every year that passes without removing those lines from the water brings the right whale closer to extinction.

Golden’s bill would extend by seven years the unprecedented extinction rider included in the FY2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which prevented the National Marine Fisheries Service from issuing a more protective rule to further reduce the risk of entanglement and death in the U.S. lobster fishery until Dec. 31, 2028.

During this legislative rider-moratorium period, 55 whales have been documented dead, injured, or in poor health. Of these, 31 were confirmed as entanglements in fishing gear.