February 14, 2020 — Maine’s top fisheries regulator is telling his federal counterparts the state’s lobster fleet deserves more credit for its efforts to reduce the risk of fishing gear entanglements with the endangered North Atlantic right whale.
Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher revealed this week that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told him that Maine’s proposed gear changes, including a reduced number of vertical ropes in offshore waters, are insufficient.
In a letter sent Wednesday, Keliher tells NOAA that it is overlooking other whale protection measures that the state has taken in the past and is proposing for the future. “It needs to be taken into consideration: it’s not part of any calculations they have on the books right now,” he says.
Keliher met last night with the state Lobster Advisory Council, which includes fishermen from each of the state’s seven lobster management zones.
He says Maine should get credit for replacing floating rope lines that pose a big hazard for the whales with safer, sinking lines, and for Maine’s proposal to require inshore boats to weave weak, breakaway links into their lines.