BOSTON – Fishermen would have to modify their gear and some fishing areas would be shut down when whales are thought to be in the area under some new proposals to protect large whales.

The federal proposals follow this summer’s highly publicized plight of an endangered North Atlantic right whale, dubbed Churchill, who got caught in marine rope. He’s believed to be dead after six failed rescue attempts.

National Marine Fisheries Service spokesman George Liles said the proposal was in the works well before Churchill ran into trouble, but his troubles highlighted the need for action.

“Everybody feels the same sense of urgency, because as we know, whales are still getting entangled,” Liles said.

The National Marine Fisheries Service’s proposed rules are also meant to protect humpback and finback whales. They were forwarded after months of debate by an advisory panel, the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, made up of fishermen, conservationists, and federal regulators.

The team’s recommendations were not unanimous. Team member Bill Adler, director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, said the rules would be the final straw for many already disenchanted fishermen.

“Do you want to go guerrilla?” said Adler, indicating many fishermen would simply ignore any new rules. “They keep pushing us to the point where they’re going to lose the help.”

Public comment on the proposals ends Oct. 31, after which the federal government will either modify them or move to adopt them as written. Liles said NMFS hoped to have some new rules in effect by the end of the year.

Among the proposed gear changes: requiring inshore lobstermen in the mid-Atlantic states to use lobster lines that break at 600 pounds of pressure, and gillnet lines that snap at 1,100 pounds, so the whale doesn’t get caught in them. New England fishermen already use the lines.

The changes would also eliminate seven-sixteenths inch diameter rope for lobstermen by January 2003. The changes are costly and unneeded because whales don’t get tangled in rope that thin, Adler said.

The rules would also create so-called “Dynamic Area Management” zones that restrict fishing in certain areas when three of more whales are spotted within 75 square nautical miles. Scientists think that concentration of whales means other animals are feeding in the area.

The size of the zones would depend on several factors, including how many whales are seen. Restrictions would be in place for a minimum of 15 days.

Lobstermen would also have to remove gear from the area, something Adler said just isn’t feasible for various reasons, including the fact it would take several trips to remove the gear on relatively small boats.

“If the current idea is adopted, the lobster industry will not recognize it, will not do it,” Adler said.

A third idea is seasonally closing additional areas up and down the East Coast when whales are migrating. The final proposed rule is expected to be released next month.

LaMontagne said he knows new rules will make some angry, but NMFS can’t shirk its responsibility to protect endangered whales.

“You have to do things that are unpopular,” he said.