Federal float-rope order rescinded Move frees Maine lobstermen to fish during their most productive season

ELLSWORTH – It looks like Down East lobstermen will be able to fish during the most productive part of the year after all.

Federal fishery regulators decided Wednesday not to impose fishing gear restrictions in an 841-square nautical mile swath of ocean between the shore of eastern Washington County and the Canadian border that divides Grand Manan Channel.

After having spotted three right whales southeast of Machias on Oct. 5, another aerial survey on Wednesday indicated the whales were no longer in the area.

Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had announced earlier this week that, to protect the endangered whales from possible entanglement in fishing gear, it would require that all lobstermen either remove their gear from the proposed dynamic area management zone or modify it to make it safer for whales for two weeks.

Lobstermen, elected officials and fishermen groups objected loudly to the proposed DAM zone gear restrictions. The coming weeks are expected to be the most productive part of a weak fishing season, they said, and to have to remove or modify their gear would have a severe financial impact on their livelihoods.

Gov. John Baldacci, Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, and 1st District Rep. Tom Allen all called upon NOAA to conduct another aerial survey before implementing the gear restrictions, which would have been in place from Oct. 20 through Nov. 3.

Each issued statements Wednesday indicating they were pleased the DAM zone would not be implemented after all.

The news that Wednesday’s aerial survey showed the whales were gone came as a relief to fishermen and lobster industry representatives.

“I think it’s definitely good news,” Jonesport fisherman Tim Peabody said late Wednesday afternoon. “We haven’t made any money this year. I’ve waited 11 months for these next two or three weeks.”

Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said Wednesday that as many as 650 lobstermen who fish off eastern Washington County could have been affected by the gear restrictions.

“The Maine Lobstermen’s Association is thrilled that the DAM is being rescinded,” she said. “It’s great news for the lobster industry.”

Cutler fisherman Norbert Lemieux, a Down East Lobstermen’s Association board member, said that even if the DAM zone restrictions had gone through, fishermen could not have removed all their non-compliant gear from the zone by Saturday.

“[Whales] never come anywhere near the area they wanted to close down,” Lemieux said. “I’ve fished for 32 years and I’ve never seen a right whale.”

Fall usually is the most productive time of year for fishermen, who catch millions of pounds of lobster as the lobsters migrate from inshore coastal waterways to deeper water, which stays warmer in the winter.

To keep their gear in the DAM zone, fishermen would have had to replace all the floating rope on their traps with sinking rope, which is believed to be safer for whales because it sinks to the bottom instead of rising up in the water column.

Fishermen, especially in eastern Maine where the ocean floor tends to be rocky, prefer float rope because it is significantly less expensive and is less likely to get their gear caught on the craggy bottom. They have been critical of a recent decision by NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service to require all lobstermen to switch to sinking rope by October 2008, regardless of whether whales are spotted nearby.

Peabody, the Jonesport lobsterman, said he hopes federal regulators also reconsider the long-term gear requirement. He said that besides costing more, sinking rope wears out faster and is more dangerous because it’s stiffer and more difficult for fishermen to work with while at sea.

“This isn’t a one-time buy,” Peabody said of having to switch to sinking rope, which many fishermen have said could increase their expenses by as much as $12,000 every year. “This rope doesn’t last.”