PORTLAND (AP) – U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe says plans to cut the number of days that groundfishing boats are permitted to spend at sea next year “would be a death knell” for New England’s fishing industry.

“The horizon before us is ominous,” the Maine Republican warned Tuesday at a field hearing before the Senate subcommittee on oceans, atmospheres, fisheries and the Coast Guard.

Boats already are restricted to 48 days of fishing a year in order to help rebuild depleted fish stocks, and Snowe said rules that could bring additional cuts might “regulate our nation’s first fishery out of existence.”

The New England Fisheries Management Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service are both adopting new rules for 2009 and 2010. Initial proposals for next year’s rules could come in another month or so, with early indications suggesting a cut of about 18 percent.

Maine’s groundfishing industry has shrunk from about 350 boats in 1990 to about 75 today, while the number of days at sea had been slashed by more than half in the last 12 years, she said.

Recent studies have found that some groundfish species such as haddock are healthy, but many of the rest of the 19 species in the region are severely depleted.

An official from the National Marine Fisheries Service told the panel that efforts to rebuild fish stocks have been largely ineffective.

James Balsiger, the agency’s acting assistant administrator for fisheries, said a “sector” approach that sets quotas on the catch within specific offshore areas would be more promising than the current attempt to limit the fleet’s ability to catch fish. But he said a changeover could not be made in time for the start of next year’s fishing season in May.

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