BANGOR (AP) – Maine lobstermen say the government’s proposal to change the kind of rope they use in hopes of preventing whale entanglements would run up equipment costs and cause more of their gear to get snagged on the seabed.
The National Marine Fisheries Service is considering making lobstermen use rope that sinks rather than the kind now commonly in use, which has a tendency to float. The government says keeping the rope on the bottom would prevent entanglements, especially by right whales.
The lobstermen they’re not convinced the heavier rope would do any good, and that right whales are very rare anyway.
“I’ve never seen one,” said David Cousens of South Thomaston, president of Maine Lobstermen’s Association. “You’ve got a better chance of seeing a UFO around here than a right whale.”
Cousens said fishermen have been receptive to gear modifications in the past to prevent whale entanglements, such as breakaway lines on buoys and sinking rope on traps set far offshore or in areas with a muddy bottom.
Further conversion to sinking rope would cost each lobsterman between $12,000 and $15,000 annually in additional operating expenses, said Kristan Porter, a lobsterman from Cutler. He said the government’s proposed rule doesn’t take into account the varying fishing practices and terrain along the East Coast.
“This isn’t going to help anything. I haven’t bought any type of rope for next year because I don’t know what they’ll do,” said Porter.
Right whales were once hunted nearly to extinction. There are an estimated 300 to 400 of them, but scientists say most of them have scars from getting tangled up in fishing gear.
A government official said that while a ban on the use of all float rope throughout the Northeast is being considered, there could be exceptions to the rule.
Teri Frady of the National Marine Fisheries Service said the rope rule is still in the review process. The NMFS must still release an environmental impact statement before it can adopt the rule.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she appreciates the goal of the rope rule, but asked regulators to take into consideration “the true economic impact” the proposed changes would have on Maine’s lobster industry.
Citing government figures, Collins said the annual cost of the proposed rule would be $14.2 million and the Maine lobster industry’s share would be $12.8 million.
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