By Ray Cardello for December 3, 2022 Season 14 / Post 43

The lobster industry is one of the most important to Maine and New England. The lobster is a necessary component of the region’s economy.

• Employs 5,600+ independent lobstermen
• Harvests 100+ million pounds of lobster
• Contributes $1+ billion to the Maine economy

The lobster industry has been under attack for years by government restrictions and environmental pressure making it increasingly difficult for families that have been harvesting lobsters for generations to continue.

Maine’s lobstermen and women are under attack by the Biden Administration after recent rule changes restricting seasonal lobster fishing in 950 square miles of federal waters off Maine’s coast. This action is an inflexible and poorly considered attempt to protect the North Atlantic right whale population.

The 950 square miles, from Mt. Desert Island to Casco Bay, that will be off-limits for fishermen between the months of October and January, will have a major impact for off-shore lobster fishing and will displace countless fishermen, and overcrowd areas outside the restricted zone.

The facts about the right whale population do not warrant these restrictions. It has been over twenty years since the last recorded incident of a right whale caught up in any lobstering equipment. There are no recorded instances of whale death due to the lobster industry. We are destroying an important regional industry with no justifiable reason. Thanks to Joe Biden and his lack of spine when dealing with environmental groups, families of Maine Lobstermen are seeking other means of supporting their families.

The Whole Foods grocery chain has suspended offering any form of Maine Lobster to their customers. This action directly responds to the same environmental pressure to which Joe Biden bends his knee. Whole Foods is just one company, and its boycott will not have a considerable impact on the financials of the Maine industry, but the PR impact will be significant. If the WOKE had a brain, it would be dangerous.

There cannot be a situation involving Joe Biden without a dose of hypocrisy. While the Biden Administration is putting the squeeze on Maine’s Lobster industry, he is serving lobster at a State Dinner for the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife this week. Biden has again shown how tone-deaf he is to the plight of some Americans. Aside from the direct slap to Maine Lobstermen, this lavish State Dinner comes just one week after American families experienced the most expensive Thanksgiving dinner due to Biden inflation. This choice of entree for the State Dinner was deplorable.

Joe Biden ran for President, claiming he would unify us after four years of the divisive Donald Trump. He has driven the wedge in deeper, deflated our retirement accounts and dreams, destroyed high-paying jobs in the petroleum industry, and driven a knife into regional industries like the Maine lobster industry. 

Biden claims that his economy and job creation are at never before seen levels. It is all bogus, like the plagiarized speeches that he gave that drove him out of two previous Presidential runs. It is impossible to fathom how Democrats think Biden’s policies are good for Americans. We on the Right know how dangerous he is, and unlike Democrats, we pray there is no Chapter 2 for Joe Biden.