The decision by the National Marine Fisheries Service to delay a rule mandating that lobstermen change their rope to avoid entangling endangered Atlantic right whales gives the agency more time to fine tune the requirements. The top priority for federal regulators should be to review where whales and lobster gear overlap so that the requirements can be more precisely tailored to protect right whales most at risk of entanglement without overburdening the entire lobster industry. Lobstermen should not think the delay means they won’t have to change their gear.

NMFS proposed in 2005 to allow only rope that sinks to the ocean floor between lobster traps to minimize the risk of endangered right whales becoming entangled in the line. At the behest of Maine’s Department of Marine Resources, some inshore areas were exempted from the rule because they are not frequented by the whales, which pass through Maine waters on their yearly migration between the mid-Atlantic and the Bay of Fundy.

NMFS moved ahead with the rule despite concerns raised by the Office of Management and Budget and the Government Accountability Office that the fisheries service had underestimated the cost of switching rope and that it hadn’t adequately addressed Maine lobstermen’s concerns about sinking line snagging on the bottom. Snagging could lead to more broken line, increasing the amount of rope that right whales can get entangled in. It would also increase costs for fishermen and could put them at risk of being hurt by damaged gear.

Earlier this month, NMFS announced that it would delay implementation of the rule from Oct. 5 to April 2009, the start of a new lobster season. The delay gives regulators time to more fully investigate claims from some Maine lobstermen that the line is impractical in some areas because it snags and breaks on the rocky ocean bottom. NMFS can also do a more thorough economic analysis to determine the cost of the rope change.

The Maine lobster industry last year approved an increase in trap tag fees with the money to be devoted to research into where whales and lobster gear interact along the state’s coast. This information should be used by regulators to expand the exempted areas.

A more thorough analysis of the sinking line requirement is especially warranted because the Bush administration recently stalled a plan to require ships to slow down to protect right whales because it says analysis of the rule’s economic impact was incomplete. It should give the same consideration to rules requiring changes in lobster gear.

The plan would have required shipping vessels to cut their speed to 10 knots in areas where right whales are known to be present or were spotted.

Last year, three right whales were seriously injured or killed, according to NMFS. Collisions with ships were responsible for two of the incidents. The whales, which are thought to number only about 350, are especially susceptible to ship strikes because they swim near the surface, are slow-moving and are not aware of their surroundings when eating. Shipping lanes into Boston and Saint John, New Brunswick, have been rerouted to try to avoid the whales.

NMFS should use the additional time to rewrite both rules to require changes proven to protect whales in areas where they are most at risk of entanglements and ship strikes.