BREWER (AP) – Lobstermen squared off against conservationists Tuesday at a U.S. Senate hearing on proposed federal whale protection rules that would require costly changes in fishing gear.

About 200 lobstermen turned out in a show of opposition to regulations that would force them to replace groundlines that connect their traps with sinking rope that would not entangle endangered right whales.

Conservationists defended the changes, citing the need to do everything possible to save the remaining 350 right whales.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, who presided at the hearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard, appealed for a compromise that would protect the whales without crippling the $300 million lobster industry.

“We must come to a reasoned, equitable solution to this issue, and I am going to fight to ensure that we do,” said Snowe, the ranking Republican on subcommittee.

Lobstermen said the switch in gear, which is scheduled to take effect Oct. 1, would cost each of them thousands of dollars. They also expressed concern that the sinking rope is likely to tear on the rocky bottom and worried that manufacturers may not be able to turn out enough of the new rope to supply the industry.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association said it has hired an attorney to petition the National Marine Fisheries Service to defer the new regulations until after the 2008 season.

The Ocean Conservancy, however, said the rules have been under development for more than five years and there have already been too many delays.

The hearing had originally been scheduled for Jan. 14 in Ellsworth but was postponed because of stormy weather.

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