Who knew?

Whole Foods - P.C. always! Sickening. And in the center of lobster fishing as an industry. A trade, a tradition. I wonder if lobster fisherman would get together and picket? I would join for the cause and I'm not a fisherman. It's for the principle of it all.

It’s more complicated than most people think. The fishing industry in Maine does quite a lot to suppress reporting when they damage wildlife and it’s hard to know who to blame otherwise. Basically it’s all the honor system and everyone has an agenda, so it’s really hard to trust the limited data out there.

With that said, let’s be real. There’s no way that concentration of motor activity and trapping isn’t doing at least some damage to parts of the ecosystem - and in the ocean, pretty much all species are ultimately interdependent through a web of predator / prey / symbiotic relationships.

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Wait, you mean an business who pitches being environmentally considerate has stopped carrying a product that is gathered in a way that is proven to endanger a already critically endangered type of whales? Who could have seen this coming. Now do Canadian crab next...

Innocent until proven guilty. And right now, zero research has proven the lobster industry is guilty of the crime of killing right whales. Period. You don't punish someone for things you haven't shown are true, but simply because they won't comply with the rules you made up in the total absence of any evidence they would correct a problem that is occurring somewhere else.

If I show up for the Lobstermen will they start showing up for everyone else?

For example... probably time to figure out climate change is real and stop right-wing denying that shit.

I totally understand the frustration from the lobstermen. But isn't there clearly a problem if one retailer can single handedly cause so much havoc? Just a thought.

This isn’t about protecting whales.

All of this legislation is being sponsored by energy companies that want to build offshore wind farms, which, wait for it… have been shown to be harmful to right whale migration.

I find it easy to BOYCOTT overprice health food. Trader Joes down the street!

The lobstermen refused to put stripes on their lines so that it would be proved who was killing the whales.

It's easy to say there is no evidence if you refuse to allow an investigation.

Much like Gun or MJ research. If you outlaw it and refuse to cooperate... then you will never see a study that disagrees with you.

So instead of getting lobster from the most sustainable lobstering industry, they'll get it from somewhere that probably has less regulations than us. Look at how much more lax the regulations are in other parts of the country, and tell me again that maine lobstering, which has not been proven to be harmful to right whales, is the issue.

That’s a big no from the lobstermen.

Lol if lobster men went on strike, literally no one would care. On no I don’t get to pay 45 dollars for a lobster roll. Yeah no one cares.

OOF....your gonna need to provide some sources on this. As it stands, your connecting the dots in two different coloring books.

How many whales have actually died in Maine waters?

Historically? Probably a fuckton because we used to do whaling. However as of recent? Not that many

Sorry if that was vague. I meant as a result of lobstering.

And was that a metric fuckton?

Nah Imperial fuckton

As a result of lobstering? Maybe 15 over the course of 100 years? I'm commiting rough estimates with those numbers. However the one of the most recent deaths was actually when a NOAA research vessel plowed into one.

The whole focus on these restrictions feels more like a solution looking for a problem, especially when it seems that there really haven't been any casualties caused in Maine waters. Go figure.

I appreciate this debate because I’m trying to understand the facts. Even if they are climate change denying right wingers (which most certainly not all of them are - and maybe fewer than we suspect are), we definitely want to show up for them. WF boycott? What organized efforts are there to support the lobstermen?

I fail to find why this is upsetting.

I don’t disagree with you but it’s not a good reason to deregulate the lobster industry. It’s just a reminder that there are other industries that require more oversight as well.

Honestly the lobster industry has been in trouble for a while now. I think it’s just the fact that they isn’t much margin left to afford any blows. Not to mention that the Whole Foods in Portland moves product like crazy. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had multiple independent vendors.

I don’t blame them necessarily, it’s a hard life, but I can’t think of many groups of people less likely to do what you’re asking than lobstermen. They are an extremely cantankerous and provincial lot. And the decline of the industry has worsened it. People are starting to realize the price of lobster just isn’t worth it, not when a jar of tomato sauce costs more than $10

I see the point that you’re trying to make. However, if this was a local “Market Basket” your point would be valid. It’s Whole Foods a subsidiary of Amazon. I promise you, if you took the Amazon logo and just a photo of the outline of Maine, more people will recognize Amazon. That is why it is such a big deal.

Yeah I know, that's where the problem is

Sorry for the question here in this group, But! Can someone briefly explain the high negative ratings I got just from this post? I had 9 negative already (don't know why, but that's past). But here, all I did was call out WHOLE FOODS in favor of a Maine industry and way of life-Libster fishing. And then ALL the left wing hatemongers come in and stir up the "right wing global warming" crap. This issue is about whales and trap lines.

Wait, what jars of tomato sauce cost more than $10?

I was following along until you shattered reality.

I saw a jar of tomato sauce (12 oz) for $13.50 at Hannafords yesterday. It was an organic one, but only the store brand jars and Prego that weren’t $10 or just under it.

Holy smokes, have you considered not buying jars?

Here's a can of name brand tomato sauce for <$2

Yeah we make our own sauce now. But it just goes to show how expensive food has gotten.

Maybe it's because I never had much growing up but I've always shopped for stuff based on the best deal and I probably would never noticed jarred tomato sauce prices because I'm so used to adding spices and stuff

The attack of lobstering methods have nothing to do with the whales... go look up how many marine mammals are allowed legally to die from the offshore wind projects. More whales are allowed to be killed than what the fishing industry does.