The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is seeking public comments on proposed rules that would ban steel-jawed foothold traps for bears and would reduce the number of bear traps that could be set at any one time.

On advice from a task force that examined Maine’s bear-hunting regulations, DIFW officials have proposed allowing only cable trap, foot snare, or cage-type live traps for bears. The department is also proposing to limit trappers to one bear trap at a time. Trappers can set two traps under current law.

Ken Elowe, director of resource management at DIFW, said the state has been promoting the use of cable or snare traps on bears for some time. Cable or snare traps are very effective with bears and, when properly set, result in fewer injuries, he said.

As for the lower limit, Elowe said trappers are prohibited from taking more than one bear per day, so allowing two traps opened the door to surpassing the limit. And there are few safe ways for a trapper to release a live bear, he said.

“Basically, we are just trying to improve our program,” he said.

The department is accepting public comments on the new rules through Feb. 16. A public hearing will only be held if five or more citizens formally request one.

The state formed the bear-hunting task force in 2005 following a contentious but unsuccessful November 2004 referendum to end bear baiting and after a slew of bear hunting bills were introduced in the Legislature.

The group’s final recommendations did not sit well with advocates on either side of the bear-trapping issue. So it’s no surprise that the proposed rules have been received coolly from both sportsman’s groups and anti-bear trapping groups.

Daryl DeJoy, executive director of the Wildlife Alliance of Maine, wants to see Maine end what he believes is its dubious distinction as the only state in the nation to allow bear trapping. DeJoy contends that bear trapping is inhumane, overly stressful and painful to the animal, and unnecessary.

“There is no wildlife management reason for bear trapping,” he said.

Skip Trask, the legislative liaison with the Maine Trapping Association, could not be reached for comment Friday. However, Trask wrote in a recent legislative update on the group’s Web site that he will express the organization’s strong concerns about implementing new rules “without adequate information to justify the changes.”

Trask wrote that the group plans to ask DIFW to gather more information on bear trapping and available traps in hopes of revising the rules later.

“When the new rule goes into effect, some trappers may lose the ability to use foothold traps that are every bit as effective and humane as cable traps and box-type live traps,” Trask wrote. “The adoption of [best management practice] standards for bear trapping, if we ever get there, will rectify that.”

George Smith, executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, said he believes the proposed rules were a political move to appease animal rights groups.

“They’re not pleasing anybody with the rule change,” Smith said. “Unless there is some reason, some scientific reason to do it, we don’t think it should be done.”

Elowe said there are no immediate plans to follow up on the task force’s other recommendation: to study how bait is affecting the size and health of the state’s bear population.

“It would be extremely expensive and our department is strapped to the limit right now,” he said.

Comments should be mailed no later than Feb. 16 to Andrea Erskine, Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, 41 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0041. They can also be sent via e-mail to andrea.erskine@maine.gov.