Tag Archives: vertical lines

Scientists review divisive whale risk reduction model

A panel of scientists gathered in Woods Hole, Mass., last week to evaluate a controversial “decision support tool” used by NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service to design proposed rules aimed at protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales and other large marine mammals from entanglement with fishing gear. Last spring, the NOAA Fisheries Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (TRT) recommended that the fisheries service adopt new rules that would, among other requirements, force Maine lobstermen to remove from the water 50 percent of the vertical lines used to connect traps on the bottom to marker buoys on the surface. >click to read< 11:07

Rep. McDonald: Federal rules would hurt lobstering, but do little for whales

A policy that involves both United States and Canada and focuses on the right whale’s migration patterns would do more to prevent entanglements.,,, Lobster is to Maine what apple pie is to Grandma’s kitchen. On the coast, it is the cornerstone of our cultural identity.,,, The Maine lobster industry is modestly valued at $1.5 billion and supports tens of thousands of Maine jobs, many of which are in rural and island communities with few other economic prospects. The fishery also provides an opportunity for young people to stay in Maine. While my siblings and classmates left the islands to attend college and pursue careers out of state, I was able to stay, raise a family and contribute to my community in a meaningful way — because I am a lobsterman. >click to read< 10:56

A Life-Long Lobsterman Also Works Hard On Ways To Avoid Whales

Rob Martin was five miles out on his boat, Resolve, lobstering with his crew, and made a call on his way back to port. Martin wasn’t calling his buyer. He was joining a conference call for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, of which he is a member.,, The conversation revolved around installing breakaway sleeves in vertical lines from traps to buoys so whales can snap them on contact and not become entangled. Martin wasn’t required to make those changes, but he already had. He has been working for years ,,, >click to read< 14:20

Halving the number of vertical lines – Finding consensus on whale protections a tough call in Maine

Federal regulators have given Maine’s lobster industry its marching orders: Find a way to cut the number of surface-to-seabed fishing lines by 50 percent to help prevent the injury or death of even one of the endangered right whales that pass through the Gulf of Maine. The National Marine Fisheries Service is allowing each lobstering state to develop its own plan to protect the whale, whose numbers have fallen to a little more than 400 in recent years. But it will be hard to find one way to make it work in Maine, where the $485 million-a-year fishery is known for its diversity. >click to read<07:29