February 17, 2021 — The seasonal closure of virtually all Massachusetts waters to commercial lobstering will not begin before March 5 and could be delayed another two weeks into March.
Daniel McKiernan, executive director of the state Division of Marine Fisheries, said the recently enacted state rules to help protect North Atlantic right whales remain under review by federal regulators.
“If not March 5, then it will be two weeks later,” McKiernan said in a text message.
The Feb. 1 to May 15 closure, imposed in all state waters except those south and west of Cape Cod, is the centerpiece of a rules package approved Jan. 28 by the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission, based on recommendations from DMF.
“We think this is surgical and appropriate,” McKiernan told the commission. “We believe this is the most responsible way to manage the fishery.”
The closure is set for the period in the late winter and early spring when the North Atlantic right whales travel north through the waters off the Massachusetts coast on their feeding migration into the Gulf of Maine and on into Canadian waters.
The closure, which is two weeks longer than DMF’s initial recommendation, is designed to reduce the number of vertical buoy lines in the water to help avert injuries and deaths from right whale entanglements in lobster and other commercial trap gear.