Officials drop trap-pulling order Fishing gear culpable in endangered right whales’ injuries, deaths

YORK – Stormy weather and rough seas put a halt to a federal order requiring lobstermen to pull their traps so that endangered right whales off New Hampshire would not get tangled up in fishing gear.

After the whales were spotted, the National Marine Fisheries Service said all gear had to be removed from 1,760 square miles of prime seasonal lobstering grounds. The area stretches from Wells to Cape Ann, Mass.

But with a storm moving up the East Coast, the NMFS rescinded the order. George Liles, an NMFS spokesman, said officials flew over a small part of the area Wednesday before the weather turned bad.

“We did see a couple of right whales, so they are still in the area,” he said.

Lobstermen were being encouraged to remove gear voluntarily when possible and to refrain from putting in any more traps, he said.

Dozens of year-round lobstermen from southern Maine alone would have had to remove immediately thousands of traps as of Thursday.

“It took these guys six weeks to move them out there,” said Jack Holbrook, a York lobsterman. “You can’t move all those traps. Where are you going to put them?”

Because they migrate close to the coast and swim close to the water’s surface, northern right whales can get caught up in fishing gear and occasionally are struck by ships.

A record 11 northern right whales were killed or believed to be fatally injured this year, seven of them because of fishing gear entanglements, according to Scott Kraus of the New England Aquarium.

Kraus said it’s time for the federal government to put substantial resources into developing gear that will not harm whales.

“I’m afraid what’s going to happen here, given the number of fatalities, is that it’s going to end up in court, and a judge would be hard pressed not to shut down fixed fishing gear,” Kraus said. “I’m very worried about that. The fishery’s at risk.”

On Nov. 20, researchers spotted 10 right whales swimming near Jeffreys Ledge, east of Portsmouth, N.H. Seven whales were spotted again five days later.

Emergency closures require traps and anchored fishing nets to be removed from vast areas whenever three or more whales are seen congregating.

Northern right whales were hunted to near extinction and never recovered as did some other species, such as humpbacks.

There are an estimated 300 to 350 of the whales left.