GREEN LOBSTER

A Massachusetts marketing campaign aimed at giving its lobsters a green image likely won’t cut very deep into the Maine lobster market. But the conservation-themed effort adds urgency to the need to finalize a federal rule for lobster gear that is meant to help endangered Atlantic right whales.

Massachusetts lobstermen have begun banding their catch with green rubber bands with a white whale tail and the word “Massachusetts.” The band is meant to highlight the steps the Bay State’s lobstermen have taken – after they were required to do so by the state government – to protect right whales, which number about 350. Since January 2007, Massachusetts lobstermen have been required to use rope that sinks to the ocean floor between their traps. Floating rope is thought to create loops that entangle whales.

Maine lobstermen argue that sinking rope will snag on the rocky bottom common in the state, especially Down East, and that right whales are rarely seen in Maine waters.

In part because of these concerns, the National Marine Fisheries Service has delayed until April 2009 a rule requiring sinking line along the East Coast. Maine lobstermen hope that additional study will show that right whales and lobster harvesting rarely overlap in the state. Completing that work would help regulators know where the line change is necessary and which areas could be exempted from the requirement.

In the meantime, Massachusetts is trying to use its early compliance to its advantage.

“Other areas fight these mandates. We want the public to know not all fishermen are in that category,” longtime lobsterman Bernie Feeney told The Associated Press. “We’re ahead of the game. We’re hoping it appeals to people.”

In 2006, Maine lobstermen caught nearly $300 million worth of the crustacean; Massachusetts’ catch was valued at $52 million.

The debate over lobster and conservation is reminiscent of the recent battle over whether natural foods giant Whole Foods should sell live lobster. It stopped doing so in 2006 because of its strict standards for the handling of animal products that end up in its stores.

The company agreed to sell lobsters at its Portland store, but they had to be kept in separate holding compartments and were caught by lobstermen from Vinalhaven who meet Whole Foods’ conservation principles.

Vinalhaven lobstermen also took a lead in using lobster claw bands to communicate with customers. The bands contained the address for the Web site Lobster Tales, which showed where the lobsters were caught and by whom. The Web site also told about the island and its residents. The program is on hiatus while its Web site is updated.

The Vinalhaven model, coupled with a refining of the rope rules, offer ways for Maine lobstermen to again remind consumers that conservation is a daily part of their work.