Federal fisheries regulators have proposed new rules requiring changes in fishing gear to reduce the chances that endangered right whales will get entangled. The gear changes will likely cost Maine lobstermen millions of dollars. Sen. Olympia Snowe has already proposed a buy-back program to reduce the burden on lobstermen and University of Maine researchers are already looking for ways to use the discarded fishing line. These actions will help Maine lobstermen weather a necessary change.

North Atlantic right whales are thought to number only about 300. The whales, which migrate from the mid Atlantic to Canada, are prone to getting entangled in fishing gear and to being hit by ships. To reduce the entanglement risk, the National Marine Fisheries Service currently puts large areas of the Atlantic off-limits to fishing and fishing gear if right whales are spotted nearby. This can put fishermen out of work for weeks and force them to haul miles of line out of the water. As an alternative, the service has proposed to allow the use of line that sinks to the bottom of the ocean rather than floating in the water where it can get wrapped around a whale. This change is expected to cost fishermen on the East Coast $14 million, according to NMFS.

Sen. Snowe has already submitted legislation to create a gear buy-back program. The initial request is for $2 million to start the program.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources envisions a pilot project to develop and test gear in the waters off southern Maine before federal rules require the use of a new type of rope up and down the coast. This is a prudent approach to ensure that gear problems are fixed before millions of pounds of rope are swapped.

Under Sen. Snowe’s proposal the 5 million pounds of floating rope used by Maine lobstermen would be recycled. A for-profit spin-off from the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute is already researching the possibility of turning old lobster line into composite decking and CD cases. Saltwater Marketing of Portland is working with researchers

at UMaine’s Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center to perfect the process of grinding up the old rope, removing the sand and seaweed and producing other products. Saltwater Marketing is talking with Correct Building Products of Biddeford, which makes composite decking, and Shape Global Technology of Sanford, a maker of CD cases, about using the recycled lobster line in their products.

As a result of this partnership, millions of pounds of discarded line are diverted from the landfill, recycled products are developed and Maine companies and the university will

likely make a little money.

The proposed gear change rules will allow fishermen to continue to go to sea while lessening the risk to right whales. Recycling the old rope is a further benefit of this approach.