The Seafood Department at Portland’s Whole Foods Today, Located on Somerset Street.
An Angry Senator Angus King (I) with Governor Janet T. Mills (D) at a Press Conference Last Week on the Portland Waterfront. (For More Background on the Seafood Watch, please visit post dated September 9, 2022 Herein).
“We haven’t sold live lobster here at Whole Foods for three or four years,” said an employee of the seafood department at Portland’s store today. ” Live lobster doesn’t sell that well here. It’s also takes a lot of work like cleaning the tanks. We sell lobster products that we get from Luke’s Lobster.,” she said.
The employee was, intentionally or not, disassociating the Portland high-end store from a report that appeared in the “Portland Press Herald” today reporting that the prominent national chain was complying with a recommendation by an environmental watchdog urging consumers to avoid Maine lobster because of its entanglement with right whales off the east coast.
The group, Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch, added Maine lobster to its “red list” last week – that is seafood to avoid.
That action of the California-based organization prompted a press conference on the Portland waterfront conducted by an angry Angus King (I) and a committed Governor Janet T. Mills (D) telling the California group to reverse its recommendation and make amends for the damage already done to the Maine lobster industry. The two repeated that the non-profit’s recommendation is based on no evidence, Rather, they told the non-profit to provide evidence backing up that assertion. Both King and Mills are Maine attorneys.
Senator Susan Collins (R) did not attend the press conference on the Portland waterfront. Congresswoman Chellie Pingress (D) was recovering from a bout with COVID-19 and was unable to attend.
“That doesn’t bother me at all because I support the local fishermen. I’d rather support the local fishing markets which is what I do,” said Lynn Golder. a resident of Cape Elizabeth when she learned that Whole Foods does not sell live lobster and hasn’t for years. Golder says she buys fish from a fish market near her home. She was shopping at Whole Foods today.
For more background information on the subject, please visit post herein dated September 9, 2022. It’s about a press conference conducted by Senator Angus King (I) and Governor Janet T. Mills (D) telling Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch to reverse its recommendation to avoid purchasing Maine lobster and make amends for damage already sustained by Maine’s lobster industry because of its recommendation.