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Maine Lobstermen Struggle With Whale Rule by Laurie Schreiber
The MLA is also in discussion with conservation organizations to see if alternative arrangements can be worked out to protect whales from floating groundlines. With the publication of the final whale rule in early October, the National Marine Fisheries Service failed to agree to Maine’s request to broaden the area to be exempted from the use of sinking groundline and to push implementation from Oct. 1, 2008 to 2010. “We’re pretty disappointed with what the federal government came out with,” said Maine Lobstermen’s Association executive director Patrice McCarron of NMFS’ refusal to accede to the state’s requests. The MLA’s board of director met mid-October to discuss strategies. They agreed to pursue their petition to push implementation of the sinking line requirement from Oct. 1, 2008 to 2010. They agreed to seek a higher trap tag fee of 20 cents per tag, in order to create a dedicated fund for research. And they’ve reached out to conservation groups, primarily the Ocean Conservancy and the Humane Society. Some aspects the MLA plans to study are the wheres and whens of whale/lobster gear interaction, the advantages of shortening up groundlines, the possibility of reducing vertical line by increasing the number of traps on a trawl, and the creation of a viable low-profile rope. The industry is in a serious time crunch, McCarron said, because if the sinking line requirement stands, lobster fishermen will need to switch over in the spring. Any new options need to gel by the end of this year, she said. “We’re pushing everywhere we can,” she said. “We’ve got to focus on risk reduction to the whales and having an operational fishery.” McCarron said she will meet with the Department of Marine Resources again next week regarding their discussions with rope manufacturers. If enough rope can’t be made for the coming year, this would be grounds for filing a petition with NMFS, asking them to delay implementation through the rule-making process, she said. “Maine is the most highly impacted and our guys can’t fish under this plan,” she said. The lobster industry has also discussed the possibility of litigation. With the rule’s publication, U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe rebuked NMFS, saying the rule would “unfairly force thousands of Maine lobsterman to change their fishing gear in order to protect large whales off the Atlantic coast.” Snowe sent three comment letters to Assistant Administrator of NOAA Fisheries, Bill Hogarth, urging him to review and reconsider the regulation. “I am deeply troubled by the National Marine Fisheries Service’s unacceptable decision to issue final regulations that drastically, unfairly, and unnecessarily impact Maine ’s lobster industry,” Snowe said. “NMFS failed to make any changes to its regulatory proposal, despite an independent report from the Government Accountability Office that specifically points out the shortcomings of NMFS’s economic analysis, and the Service’s inability to determine the level of protection these rules would provide to whales. Perhaps most shockingly, the agency demonstrated utter disregard for the practical implications of this rule when it failed to extend the rule’s implementation date. An extension of this date would have allowed scientists and regulators additional time to develop a rule which could better meet the needs of both whales and fishermen. As it stands now, rope manufacturers state unequivocally that they cannot make enough sinking rope to satisfy the demands of the industry under the current rules. Therefore, with the implementation date of October 2008, NMFS will force some lobstermen to choose between breaking the law and going out of business.” Snowe said she is working with the Maine fishing industry and the state’s Department of Human Resources to pursue means of correcting the shortcomings of the regulations. She will soon introduce a resolution in the Senate directing the United States to work with Canada to develop a bilateral management regime to protect large whales and the state’s lobstermen who must abide by more stringent regulations than their Canadian counterparts. NMFS defended its decision to maintain the implementation date and the current exemption line, rather than broaden the exemption area, as the industry had requested. According to Teri Frady, NMFS chief of public relations, NMFS based its decision on the exemption line on analyses of available data from between 1960-2005. The sighting information, Frady said, “shows that while Northern right whale sightings may not be common inside the 50-fathom line, the occurrences are regular enough to warrant protection inside this area. On a more frequent basis, other large whale species protected under the plan (such as endangered fin and humpback whales) have been sighted inside of the 50-fathom line. Thus, we believe that the approved exemption line rather than the 50-fathom exemption line is appropriate.” On postponement of implementation, Frady said that NMFS typically requires compliance within 30 to 60 days. Fishermen have one year to replace floating groundline with sinking/neutrally buoyant groundline, which, she said, NMFS considers “a balance between allowing fishermen to phase in replacement and phasing in the risk reduction to large whales.” Frady said the measures selected are expected to minimize potential economic impacts to fishermen — with regard to replacing line and losing traps —without increasing risks to large whales. And she said rope manufacturers have had plenty of notice regarding the potential for an increase in demand for sinking and/or neutrally buoyant line. “We will continue to monitor the availability of line over the next year through continued discussions with industry,” she said. NMFS will not provide funds for the changeover at this time, she said. The final rule is at http://www.nero.noaa.gov/nero/hotnews/whalesfr/ |
