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Rep. Jared Golden’s recent column claiming that the lobstering industry poses little threat to endangered North Atlantic right whales lacks critical context.

Golden claims that only one right whale death has been traced to Maine lobster gear over the last 30 years. But that claim fails to note that for decades, the lobster industry successfully avoided sufficiently marking their fishing gear, so connecting their gear to whale deaths was virtually impossible. Since 90 percent of the lobster industry is in Maine and getting entangled in fishing gear is a primary killer of right whales, it stands to reason that Maine fishing gear has contributed to more than one

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