Tag Archives: Federal Whale Rules
An Update from Commissioner Keliher
Dear Industry Member, I’m reaching to share what’s been happening recently at DMR. It’s been a busy summer. CARES Act – Negotiations with NOAA on our CARES Act spend plan have finally been completed.,, Soon, we will be reaching out to you by mail and email with information on the application process. USDA Trade Relief, Federal Whale Rules, Aquaculture, Marine Patrol, and more. Like I said, it’s been a busy summer. But, despite the ongoing challenges of Covid-19 we have established remote operations and the work continues. We will keep sending these updates until we can gather in-person. Until then, stay safe. Pat. >click to read< 12:21
Notice from Commissioner Keliher: Update on Federal Whale Rules
As many of you know, the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (TRT) met last week and recommended broad measures that included a target to remove 50 percent of endlines from the Gulf of Maine. The remaining endlines will also need to be made safer so that, if a whale does come in contact with a line, the rope will break. The outcome for Maine’s lobster industry could have been far worse. Many TRT participants did push for a phase-in of ropeless fishing over five or ten years, large scale closed areas (including two in Maine), and weak rope across the entire fishery. In the end, Maine delegates were successful in pushing back on those proposals,,, Click to read<10:12
