March 22, 2021 — Provincetown lobsterman Bill Souza walked back to his truck carrying a swag bag filled with what looked to be fluorescent orange bucatini. They were like the “bamboo finger trap” puzzles he’d seen as a kid, Souza explained, pulling one “noodle” out of the bag.
The weave on the fabric expanded as Souza stuck a finger in one end of the hollow piece of rope known as a South Shore Sleeve. As he tried to pull his finger out, the weave on the fabric tightened, gripping his finger until he pulled hard enough for it to let go.
This was not a child’s toy that the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, the Lobster Foundation of Massachusetts and the state Division of Marine Fisheries were handing out to fishermen gathered Friday at the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance building. These sleeves and spools of red 3/8-inch rope were developed and given to fishermen around the state to introduce them to the gear they will be using in the coming fishing season. That change is part of a suite of measures passed by the state Marine Fisheries Commission to comply with a judge’s order to reduce entanglements of endangered right whales in state waters.