BAR HARBOR, Maine – While the U.S. lobster industry is booming in Maine, some of its fishing methods are hurting a special group – the North Atlantic right whales.

The whales number slightly more than 400 and are facing extinction.

Recently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration convened a group of experts, called the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team. It made recommendations to the federal government about how to protect the right whales and, in particular, how the New England lobster industry can modify practices to save the whales.

Zack Klyver with Bar Harbor Whale Watch and Blue Planet Strategies, has reviewed data of about 100 whale sightings in Maine. He says the majority of the sightings were about 20 miles off the coast.

"That's where the greatest co-occurrence of risk is for whales and fishing gear, and that, I think, is where there really is need for conservation," Klyver states.

Meanwhile, the offshore lobster industry, which travels further into the water, has grown. According to a number of experts, this has been a deadly mix for the right whales.

Peter Baker, who directs The Pew Charitable Trust's marine conservation work in New England and the Atlantic region of Canada, describes the offshore lobster industry's rise.

"What we've seen over the last 15 years or so is this massive buildup of an offshore lobster fleet,” he points out. “And these guys go farther out in the federal waters. They go out into where the right whale migrates, and they put in much bigger traps. They're much heavier. They're much deeper."

Baker maintains conservation efforts need to focus more on industrial-size offshore fleets and their impact on whales.

Regina Asmutis-Silvia, executive director of the North American office of Whale and Dolphin Conservation, was part of the Take-Reduction Team. She says she was impressed by Maine's commitment to protect the whales.

"Maine, for instance, has said that they will reduce vertical line by 50%,” she points out. “Those vertical lines, those buoy lines that go up to the surface, that appears to be the biggest risk to right whale entanglements. And that's a very big deal."

Asmutis-Silvia hopes there will be a proposed rule by the end of the year and that within the next few years, this rule will significantly reduce the amount of vertical fishing line in the water.

But the recommendations must go through an approval process that could be divisive, particularly from some lobster groups.


Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.


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The state Department of Natural Resources and Iowa State University are looking for volunteers to help create a new Bumble Bee Atlas.

Bees are an important part of the ecosystem, and scientists are figuring out their habitats to help them thrive.

Iowa is home to at least 14 species of bumble bees that help pollinate native wildflowers and flowering crops in farm fields and backyard gardens.

Iowa State University University Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and plant pathologist Matt O'Neal said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently listed several bee species as endangered.

"And that includes the Rusty Patch bumble bee," said O'Neal, "20% of what it used to be, and that includes parts of Iowa. There is also evidence that other bumble species are in decline and so, this survey will give us a chance to see where those bees are and how abundant they are."

With that information, O'Neal said scientists can work to protect the bees' habitats and create Iowa's Bumble Bee Atlas.

It's part of a larger project to map the bees and foster bee development nationwide. Sign up online to volunteer.

The national project is part of a collaboration with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

Some 900 people have volunteered for the national atlas project, and counted more than 20,000 bumble bees - which O'Neal said face several major threats.

"Pesticide exposure, parasite and pathogens," said O'Neal, "and then the last 'P,' and probably the most important, is poor forage."

The researchers will work to alleviate those threats by knowing where the bees are.

Volunteers have discovered species thought to be gone from their states, contributed to new field guides, and improved scientists' understanding of bumble bee populations across the country.




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A coalition of conservation groups has sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for refusing to relist wolves under the Endangered Species Act.

Helena-based Alliance for the Wild Rockies is part of the suit. The Alliance sued to successfully overturn the wolf's delisting in 2012 but the move fell victim to congressional funding bill negotiations.

Mike Garrity, executive director of the alliance, said the wolves clearly qualify to be protected under the Act and hunting is driving down their numbers, which could cause problems for the animals.

"As their numbers decline, they are at greater risk for inbreeding," Garrity pointed out. "Once inbreeding sets in, the population is sunk."

Livestock and cattle owners argued wolves are a threat to their flocks and herds and want their numbers reduced. The suit was filed in federal District Court in Missoula.

Beyond keeping a robust population of wolves on Montana's lands and helping their species thrive, Garrity noted wolves can also help reduce the population of diseased animals.

"We're starting to have disease in deer, such as Chronic Wasting Disease," Garrity explained. "Predators like wolves are really good at focusing on the sick animals, so that's an excellent way to control Chronic Wasting Disease."

Garrity added wolf management policies in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, all of which allow aggressive hunting of the animals, fail to protect wolves and all native species for future generations, the primary mandate of the Endangered Species Act.

A lawsuit over a federal agency's decision not to boost wolf protections in New Mexico and other western states has been filed, days after video surfaced showing the torture of a captured wolf.

According to accounts, a Wyoming man ran the wolf down with a snowmobile in late February, disabling it. He then took it to a local bar and posed for photos before shooting it.

Erik Molvar, executive director of the Western Watersheds Project, said federal protections under the Endangered Species Act are essential because there are still those who don't respect wildlife.

"That's why wolves were driven extinct in the first place, is because these types of people were the ones who controlled the public policy discussion throughout much of the 20th century when wolves were driven extinct," he said.

In early February, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined to restore protections for gray wolves in western states. The agency said it concluded the animals weren't in danger of extinction under the Endangered Species Act.

The lawsuit was filed by the Western Environmental Law Center on behalf of Western Watersheds and a coalition of nine other conservation groups.

Molvar believes the federal agency's decision not to re-designate western wolves as "endangered" was profoundly misguided. He said some states such as New Mexico and Colorado have adopted extra penalties for killing wolves, but the Endangered Species Act lets hunters in other states off the hook if they claim it was a case of mistaken identity.

"There were special loopholes for Wyoming, Idaho and Montana - and also parts of Oregon, Washington and Utah - so it does beg the question of how often this is happening quietly and under the radar," he explained.

In Wyoming, wolves and coyotes, which are considered predators, aren't eligible for protections under the state's animal cruelty statute. To date, the only penalty inflicted on the person shown on social media tormenting the wolf was a $250 fine by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.