PORTLAND (AP) – A plan to force cargo ships to slow down while traveling in waters frequented by endangered North Atlantic right whales has been put on hold by the Bush administration.

The Office of Management and Budget is challenging the conclusions of the plan drafted by federal scientists, according to documents released by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the Maine Sunday Telegram reported.

Lobster fishermen who will have to spend millions of dollars to buy “whale safe” gear to comply with new federal rules are upset at the prospect that the shipping industry will avoid regulation.

Lobstermen say ship strikes cause more whale deaths than fishing gear does and it would be unfair if they have to comply with costly restrictions while shipping companies get a bye.

“Any mortality to any individual whale hurts us all,” said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. “It’s not a good way to protect a species. You need to be exploring all the risk and not letting a big piece off the hook.”

The plan drafted by federal scientists would require ships to cut their speed to 10 knots in certain areas during times of the year when right whales are known to be present and whenever whales are sighted in unusual places.

Shipping interests who claim that slower speeds would increase costs and make it harder to maneuver ships have found some allies in the White House.

The documents released last week point to a conflict between scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which developed the plan, and their critics at the Office of the Vice President and the president’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Instead of examining whether NOAA scientists correctly analyzed the economic impact of the rule, the White House budget office is looking at whether the rule’s economic cost is worth the conservation benefits of saving the right whale, said Vicki Cornish, vice president of marine wildlife conservation for the Ocean Conservancy, a marine conservation organization.

White House officials have not explained why the rule is on hold.

New offshore fishing rules that ban the use of floating groundlines that connect lobster traps to one another on the ocean bottom are scheduled to take effect in October as part of the effort to protect the estimated 350 right whales that exist today.

Lobsterman Skip Carter of Scarborough said he’s not surprised that the shipping industry is successfully delaying the rules.

“They have the money, and they have a lobby, for sure,” he said. “That’s how things work.”