Firm searching for ways to recycle lobster line

PORTLAND – A Maine company is searching for ways to recycle the thousands of miles of floating lobster line that lobstermen may eventually have to scrap to make their gear more whale-friendly.

Saltwater Marketing, a for-profit affiliate of the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute, is working with a UMaine research laboratory and two plastics manufacturers to convert old pot warp into such things as compact disc cases.

Maine lobstermen use an estimated 5 million pounds of floating rope to string together their traps, but the continued use of it is uncertain because federal fisheries officials say it threatens endangered northern right whales.

Whether fishermen voluntarily change to sinking rope or are required to do so, there is likely to be a glut of used floating rope, and the president of Saltwater Marketing believes her company can help fishermen deal with this problem.

“Yeah, we’re trying to help the industry,” Patricia Pinto said. “If we can make a buck at this, we certainly want to do that, too.”

Researchers have found ways of grinding up the old rope and mechanically sifting out sand and seaweed, according to Shane O’Neill, a scientist at The Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center at UMaine, which subcontracted with Saltwater to work out the technical aspects of the project.

And with help from a recent $20,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, researchers will soon begin testing the plastic.

Saltwater is in discussion with two local companies – Correct Building Products of Biddeford, a manufacturer of composite decking, and Shape Global Technology of Sanford, which makes a variety of plastic products including CD cases – about supplying them with the recycled material.

“I think technically I can make a product that can be used,” O’Neill said. “But can we do it and be cheaper than virgin material?”

O’Neill said processing the rope in Maine would keep prices down, but he was unable to find a recycling facility in the state that could do the job. He is instead looking to Canada and elsewhere in the United States.