The Wall Street Journal - 02.10.2019

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Wednesday, October 2, 2019 |A

food supply in local waters.

Eighteen dead right whales

have turned up in the Gulf of

St. Lawrence alone since the

start of 2017, prompting Cana-

dian authorities to enact new

fishing and shipping restric-

tions.

But the rash of Canadian

deaths doesn’t mean whales

have abandoned Maine waters,

which remain an important

habitat, according to NOAA

Fisheries and whale research-

ers.

even one death each year,

NOAA Fisheries estimates. But

30 have been found dead since

June 2017, including 21 in Ca-

nadian waters, NOAA data

show. The reason for deaths

isn’t always clear, but the

whales are dying prematurely

and not from natural causes,

researchers have found.

Researchers believe more

whales may be hunting for

food in Canada’s Gulf of St.

Lawrence because warming

waters have reduced their

smaller boats, lobstermen say.

Fishing this way also makes it

harder to maneuver traps into

the best spots, they say.

The state, where some

4,800 harvesters fish for lob-

sters, has a lot at stake. The

industry supports thousands

more jobs on shore while

pumping nearly $1.5 billion

into the state’s economy,

Colby College economics pro-

fessor Michael Donihue found

in a study last year.

“In many coastal communi-

ties, particularly in rural parts

of the coast, almost every per-

son and job is related to the

lobster fishery,” Ms. Mills said

in a recent letter to Chris Oli-

ver, assistant administrator at

NOAA Fisheries.

Mr. Oliver said the agency

was disappointed the Maine

industry group pulled support

for the right whale protec-

tions, and that the species is

at a critical point. He also said

his agency was reviewing the

industry group’s critiques and

conducting more analysis.

“With a population of only

about 400, and fewer than 95

breeding females remaining,

protecting every individual is

a priority in order to avoid ex-

tinction,” Mr. Oliver said.

The situation is so perilous,

the population can’t sustain

poses to right whales under

orders from Democratic Gov.

Janet Mills, who believes

NOAA’s National Marine Fish-

eries Service has put too

heavy a burden on her state,

and could have a plan by No-

vember.

NOAA Fisheries, which aims

to move ahead with its rule-

making process in the coming

months, will then decide if

Maine’s plan goes far enough.

Five members of the Maine

Lobstermen’s Association in-

dustry group initially sup-

ported a 50% reduction in ver-

tical fishing lines during an

advisory meeting in April to

hash out whale protections.

But the lobster group pulled

its support months later after

saying that it found flaws in

NOAA Fisheries’ analysis, and

that it thinks other kinds of

fishing gear are more hazard-

ous to whales.

The lobstermen plying the

Gulf of Maine have made gear

changes over two decades to

reduce the amount of rope

that could snag passing

whales. But stringing too

many traps together underwa-

ter to sharply reduce vertical

lines means putting a lot more

rope on deck while fishing,

creating safety risks and

straining the capacity of

U.S. NEWS

On the Brink

EndangeredNorthAtlantic

rightwhalesaredyingatan

alarmingrate,withheavy

lossesinCanadianwaters.

North Atlantic right whale

mortalities

Source: NOAA

Note: 2019 figure as of Sept 16. Locations

reflect where the whales are found.

15

0

5

10

mortalities

2012 ’14 ’16 ’

U.S. Canadian

Chris Welch says Maine lobstermen can adapt to help whales, but ‘we don’t want to go extinct either.’

TOM FOX//THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

to show his hands. She said

she fired her service weapon

because she was afraid he

would kill her.

After she shot him, she re-

alized she was in the wrong

apartment and called 911.

Prosecutors questioned why

Ms. Guyger had chosen to en-

ter the apartment by herself

when she thought there was a

burglar inside, rather than re-

maining outside the door and

calling for backup.

Whether Ms. Guyger walking

into the wrong apartment was

a reasonable mistake remained

the central point of contention

during the trial for the jury.

In a survey of building resi-

dents, more than 90 said they

had accidentally walked to the

wrong door on at least one oc-

casion, defense attorney Rob-

ert Rogers said.

The sentencing phase of the

trial began Tuesday afternoon

with Mr. Jean’s mother, Alli-

son, testifying, and was sched-

uled to continue Wednesday.

the Dallas Police Department

following the shooting. She

faces from five to 99 years in

prison.

The unusual circumstances

surrounding the death of Mr.

Jean, who was black, and the

trial of Ms. Guyger, who is

white, has roiled Dallas, a city

that has been shaken both by

racial tension and the targeted

killings of police officers in

years past.

Lawyers for Mr. Jean’s fam-

ily hailed the verdict on Tues-

day, saying it was a win for

other unarmed African-Ameri-

cans who had been killed by

the police.

“This is a huge victory, not

only for the family of Botham

Jean...but for black people in

America,” said S. Lee Merritt,

one of the family’s attorneys.

“It is a signal that the tide is

going to change here. Police

officers are going to be held

accountable for their actions.”

During the trial, prosecutors

cast Ms. Guyger as careless

and trigger-happy, saying she

was making plans to meet up

for a tryst with her police part-

ner, Martin Rivera, before a

conversation with him left her

so distracted that she made a

series of terrible decisions.

Ms. Guyger broke down

sobbing during her testimony

and said she wished she’d died

instead.

“I feel like a terrible person,

I feel like a piece of crap,” she

said. “I feel like I don’t deserve

the chance to be with my fam-

ily and friends....I am so sorry.

This is not about hate, it’s

about being scared that night.”

Ms. Guyger said she heard

noises in the apartment

shortly before opening the

door, became terrified, and

went in to find the intruder.

She said Mr. Jean began

coming toward her, yelling

“Hey, hey” as she ordered him

DALLAS—A jury found a for-
mer Dallas police officer guilty
of murder for shooting and
killing her upstairs neighbor
after she mistakenly walked
into the wrong apartment.
Prosecutors had accused Of-
ficer Amber Guyger, 31, of reck-
lessly gunning down Botham
Jean, a 26-year-old accountant,
who was sitting on his couch
eating ice cream when she
walked through the open door
of his apartment on Sept. 6,
2018, after a shift at work.
Ms. Guyger’s lawyers said
she was tired from a long day
and believed Mr. Jean’s apart-
ment, located directly above
where she lived, was hers.
They said Ms. Guyger
thought Mr. Jean was a bur-
glar and acted in self-defense.
Ms. Guyger, a five-year vet-
eran of the force, was fired by

BYDANFROSCH
ANDELIZABETHFINDELL

Ex-Officer Convicted

In Neighbor’s Death

WASHINGTON—A federal
appeals court upheld most
parts of a Republican rollback
of Obama-era rules governing
so-called net neutrality, but
the decision gave room for
states to issue tougher restric-
tions that run counter to the
deregulatory approach.
At issue are internet traffic
rules implemented last year by
the Federal Communications
Commission under Republican
Chairman Ajit Pai. The new re-
gime gave broadband providers
leeway to block or slow inter-
net traffic but required them to
be transparent if they do so.
Those new guidelines wiped
out rules adopted by a Demo-
cratic FCC in 2015. Those reg-
ulations were dubbed net neu-
trality because they prohibited
internet-service providers like
AT&T Inc., Comcast Corp. and
Verizon Communications Inc.
from blocking or slowing traf-
fic or from offering priority
service where companies could
pay for their content to reach
internet users at faster speeds.
The rollback’s impact so far
has been muted. Backers say
deregulation has led to higher
internet speeds and easier in-
ternet access for millions of
Americans. Critics question
those claimed benefits and say
the rules will eventually create
different tiers of service that
harm some consumers and
content providers.
Tuesday’s ruling could lead
to more months or years of
regulatory uncertainty as some
states test their powers to
place additional requirements
on internet-service provid-
ers. Congress has been unable
to agree on a policy solution.
The decision, by the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Dis-
trict of Columbia Circuit, found
that most of the rollback was
lawful, with a three-judge panel
unanimously concluding that it
was reasonable for the current
FCC to change course and
abandon the Obama-era ap-
proach of regulating internet-
service providers like utilities.
Judges, however, were di-
vided when they threw out
part of the FCC rules that
sought to pre-empt states from
issuing tougher regulations
than the federal government.
“At bottom, the commission
lacked the legal authority to
categorically abolish all fifty
States’ statutorily conferred
authority to regulate intrastate
communications,” the court
wrote in a portion of the deci-
sion endorsed by Judges Patri-
cia Millett and Robert Wilkins,
both Obama appointees.
Dissenting from that holding,
Judge Stephen Williams, a Rea-
gan appointee, said the ruling
would leave broadband “subject
to state regulation in which the
most intrusive will prevail.”
FCC officials are reviewing
the ruling but believe state
regulations may be pre-
empted on a case-by-case ba-
sis if they conflict with the
commission’s approach.

BYBRENTKENDALL
ANDJOHND.MCKINNON

Rollback

Of Net

Neutrality

Is Upheld

Along the rocky coast of

Maine, lobstermen are worried

new federal requirements to

clear fishing lines from the

path of endangered whales

will damage their iconic New

England industry.

A National Oceanic and At-

mospheric Administration

agency is trying to save North

Atlantic right whales that are

dying at an alarming rate in

U.S. and Canadian waters, of-

ten after getting tangled in

fishing gear or hit by ships.

The still-forming federal

regulations will cover other

parts of New England, but

Maine, where lobstermen dan-

gle more than 800,000 lines

from buoys to ocean-floor

traps in their busiest months,

has the most at stake.

Meeting an aggressive fed-

eral target for reducing whale

hazards could mean pulling

half of those lines from the wa-

ter. The state’s lobster industry

and political leaders say this is

untenable for the armada of

mostly small lobster boats

fishing the Gulf of Maine. It

also misses the target, they

say, because most dead whales

recently have turned up in

Canada, and none in Maine.

“We’re not unwilling to

adapt, we just want to adapt in

a way that will actually benefit

the species,” said Chris Welch,

a 31-year-old lobsterman from

Kennebunk, Maine, regarding

the whales. “We don’t want to

go extinct either.”

The impasse could come to

a head in the coming months.

A state agency is reassessing

the risk Maine believes it

BYJONKAMP

Bid to Save Whales Grips Maine Lobstermen

Maine lobstermen say significant cuts to the number of fishing lines, in which whales can get tangled and die, will hurt the fishery.

SARAH RICE FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (2)

Allison Jean, mother of the man shot by a Dallas police officer, gets a hug after the guilty verdict.

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