PORTLAND (AP) – Gov. John Baldacci and U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe are asking federal officials to reconsider proposed rules that would require Maine lobstermen to change their fishing gear to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales.
The National Marine Fisheries Service has proposed that lobstermen be required to use sinking rope instead of floating rope on their traps in offshore waters, roughly more than three miles from the coast.
Lobstermen say the change would be costly and dangerous because the new rope could snag on rocky bottom, while doing little to protect whales, which can get entangled in fishing gear. NMFS is scheduled to issue its final rule on Oct. 1.
On Monday, Snowe and Baldacci sent separate letters to William Hogarth, the head of the agency, urging him to review and reconsider the draft rules.
Snowe and Baldacci asked Hogarth to delay implementing the rule until at least June 1, 2010. The agency is now proposing an implementation date of Oct. 1, 2008.
They also asked that the agency consider moving the exemption line where lobstermen have to use the sinking rope farther offshore, thereby affecting fewer lobster traps that have to comply with the rule.
AP-ES-09-18-07 1422EDT
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