Whole Foods slammed over Maine lobster ban: It 'hurts' fishing families
Whole Foods to stop sale of Maine lobster after influential conservation group pulled support for industry
Whole Foods' 'negative, bad message' will hurt lobster fishing families: Kristan Porter
Maine Lobsterman Association President Kristan Porter says Whole Foods' decision to pull Maine lobsters from stores 'is just politics.'
After Whole Foods announced it will no longer sell Maine lobster at its stores over concerns that the industry harms a rare whale species, the president of the Maine Lobster Association slammed the supermarket giant for sending a "negative message" that hurts fishing families.
"The facts are, we are very sustainable and we don't harm right whales," lobsterman Kristan Porter said on "Varney & Co." Wednesday. "This is just hurting fishing families."
Whole Foods joins a growing number of retailers pulling Maine lobster from stores after an assessment from an influential conservation group called The Marine Stewardship Council and Seafood Watch claimed that the seafood poses too much of a risk to rare whales and should be avoided.
The group had pulled their endorsements over concerns about risks to rare North Atlantic right whales from fishing gear, as entanglement in gear is one of the biggest threats to the whales. At-home food kit brands Blue Apron and HelloFresh have also stopped offering lobster.
FOOD REATILERS BEGIN PULLING LOBSTER AFTER ‘RED LIST’ WARNING FROM EVIRONMENTALIST GROUP
While Porter admitted Whole Foods "isn’t a huge market" for the Maine lobster industry, he ripped the "negative, bad message" being put out by the retailer.
The Maine lobster industry is fighting against a "negative message" that's hurting fishing families, Maine Lobster Association President Kristan Porter said on "Varney & Co." Wednesday, November 30, 2022. (Getty Images)
"We haven't had a known entanglement in right whales since 2004 attributed to the main fishery. And we've never killed a right whale," Porter slammed. "So this is just politics, basically."
Executive director of the Maine Lobstermen's Association Patrice McCarron also previously confirmed to the Associated Press that the industry hasn’t had any interactions with right whales in almost two decades. Porter attributes the skepticism to a "technicality" involving an ongoing legal dispute with the Maine lobster industry.
"We've been fighting very hard, we've been raising money to fight back against the environmentalists and against the National Fishery Service," Porter said. "So all of this is because of a technicality in a statement made by a judge in one of his rulings."
Porter’s comments come just after another Maine fisherman called on the grocery chain executives to do their "homework" before writing off the livelihoods of hundreds of lobstermen.
"I think Whole Foods maybe should have done a little more homework," Jason Lorde said on "Jesse Watters Primetime" Tuesday. "We have been in business for over 150 years, and we have done our due diligence. We were conservationists before conservationists was cool. I’m sorry they felt they had to jump on the bandwagon with all the rest of the West Coasters."
Hundreds of lobstermen, their families, supporters and political figures rallied on the Portland, Maine, waterfront, calling for the state to sue federal regulators and stop proposed rules the fishermen say will decimate their industry. (Getty Images)
A Whole Foods representative told Fox News Digital that the chain will continue selling lobsters that were caught off the Gulf of Maine under the Marine Stewardship Council's previously active certification program or were rated either "green" or "yellow" by the MBA Seafood Watch program.
"We will pause purchasing lobster from the Gulf of Maine and resume when the MSC suspension is lifted or when the MBA Seafood Watch program rating is changed to green or yellow," the Whole Foods spokesperson said.
The grocery chain added in a statement that the Marine Stewardship Council and Seafood Watch are "critical to maintaining the integrity of our standards for all wild-caught seafood found in our seafood department."
"We continue to sell Gulf of Maine lobster in our stores that was procured while still under the active MSC certification (prior to suspension) or under an active MBA yellow rating. We are closely monitoring this situation and are committed to working with suppliers, fisheries, and environmental advocacy groups as it develops," the statement continued.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
Lobster businesses in a pinch as higher prices cause slowing demand
FOX Business’ Jeff Flock reports from Jonesport, Maine, where rising fuel and bait costs aren’t reeling in the big bucks.
But according to Porter, who claimed many Maine lobster operations are independently run as small businesses, 4,000 will suffer from this move.
"That just hurts fishing families like mine and my friends, when people come out and say we're not sustainable and it causes markets to drop and our price to drop," Porter said.
Fox News’ Emma Colton, Yael Halon and The Associated Press contributed to this report.