I am 74 and have been involved in the fishing industry all of my adult life.

When I was a young man and fished offshore, the whales arrived in June and gathered during the summer months when there was feed for them. As the weather grew colder, by January they would be gone. Whales in the area meant that herring, shrimp, cod and other fish were present. The fishermen felt they would have a good fishing season. Whales didn’t come close to your boat as they had been hunted and knew enough to stay their distance.

In later years whale watchers have tamed the whales. We are told not to tame wild animals. Why would we tame wild mammals?

How many large ships sailing from Europe across the ocean — oil tankers, freighters, cruise ships, Navy and Coast Guard boats — might accidentally hit a whale? A captain operating his ship on automatic pilot might never see a whale.

Ships sail from South America to Eastport and the Canadian provinces constantly. How many reports of contact with ships and whales have we heard? Common sense tells me there are a lot of them. Fishermen are being harassed by the state and federal government with rules, regulations, fines and taxes of all kinds. We are being towed backward. Guy H. Carver Jr. Beals