Proposed federal rules to minimize the risk to right whales from fishing gear would disproportionately harm Maine lobstermen. Protecting whales is necessary, but it doesn’t have to happen at the expense of a Maine industry. Expediting research on new gear would better solve the problem.

The National Marine Fisheries Service this week released draft rules requiring the use of line that sinks to the sea floor all along the East Coast. In some areas, the requirements would be only seasonal. They would be year-round in Maine waters.

The problem with sinking line is that studies have shown it will snag on Maine’s rocky sea floor and is likely to break or become tangled, a problem NMFS notes in its analysis of the rule. The agency adds that this poses risk to fishermen and will cause them to spend more time fixing their gear. Worse, broken lines could result in more “ghost gear” – rope that floats free – which could easily entangle a whale.

If forced to use sinking line to link their traps, lobstermen say they will sink traps individually. This will result in more vertical lines in the water, which is more dangerous to right whales that pass through Maine waters on their yearly migration to and from the Bay of Fundy.

Also, because right whales feed on aquatic insects that live on the sandy, not rocky, bottom they presumably aren’t swimming along the bottom in Maine.

According to NMFS analysis of six possible rules, the requirement for sinking ground line will drive more fishermen to work near shore in areas exempted from the regulations. This will result in more vessel congestion, gear conflicts and fighting for fishing grounds. Complying with the proposed rule “may create a competitive disadvantage for smaller

lobster vessels,” NMFS said.

The alternative favored by NMFS would cost lobster vessels an average of $3,500. Other vessels would spend about $1,000 to comply. Under an alternative supported by state regulators and the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, the cost would be about $200 for all vessels.

This alternative, which Sen. Olympia Snowe, chair of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Fisheries and Coast Guard, is advocating for in Washington, would require the use of low-profile rope in areas whales are known to frequent. Low-profile rope floats about 10 feet above the ocean floor. Research is ongoing to develop such line and it is expected to be available by 2009, one year later than when the NMFS rule

is supposed to go into effect.

The federal agency is naturally eager to put rules in place to protect right whales, which number only about 300 in the north Atlantic. The proposed rules, however, are too broad and will penalize an industry that

likely isn’t the main threat.