whale wars

[PRBuzz]

Originally Posted by bassackward

...... How would it be if a similar group tried to stop local fisherman. I bet it would get ugly and escalate quickly. ........

How about this summer's lobstah wars in Maine? I'm not saying it is the same a Whale Wars but just using as an example of how quickly things escalate when you attack a way of life and one's ability to earn a decent living.

The tiny island, 22 miles out at sea, is generally so quiet that it is hard to imagine the chaos that descended one midsummer day.

Early that morning, one veteran lobsterman shot and seriously wounded another on the Matinicus wharf, the peak of a dispute over whether the gunman’s son-in-law — a mainlander — could fish in the waters surrounding the island. The feud had been escalating for months, a symptom of the economic crisis battering lobstermen up and down Maine’s coast.

Officially, anyone with a Maine lobster license can set traps almost anywhere in state waters. Most lobstermen are allowed 800 traps each, making for a crowded ocean floor.

But unofficially, each harbor has its own boundaries, determined by local lobstermen over the decades. Newcomers often find their buoys snatched or their trap lines cut. The lobstermen who live on Maine’s rugged islands are especially territorial and known for practicing frontier justice; in one notorious case in 2000, two lobstermen fought over turf with a pitchfork and a fish gaff.

The “gear wars” are as old as lobstering itself; with few official rules, the state tacitly allows them. The feuds are usually resolved more quietly, but in this summer of discontent they have taken on operatic tones.