Winter Harbor lobster boat races, August 2000. Shot from a small plane with a 35mm film camera, before drones and GoPro cameras, when lobster landings were rapidly rising. Landings remain strong, but the industry is facing challenges from quota cuts to the bait supply, proposed gear restrictions and the growth of bottom leases for aquaculture. Fishermen’s Voice photo.
50% Endline Reduction Expected in Lobster Fishery
by Laurie Schreiber
The National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (ALWTRT) has 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, according to a May 2 announcement from Department of Marine Resources (DMR) Commissioner Patrick Keliher.
The team met April 23-26 in Providence, R.I. Its recommendations come in response to the decline of the decline of the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale. The latest science shows there were 411 right whales alive at the end of 2017. Of that, 100 were females, or potential mothers. Five calves were born in 2017 and zero in 2018. There’s been an uptick in 2019 of seven calves born. But 20 right whales are known to have died since 2017.
Lifejacket Van Brings
50% Discount On MA Coast
It’s the last chance for 50% discount on lifejackets for commercial lobstermen and commercial fishermen with a lobster bycatch license.
Final loop along the coast at these ports:
Thursday, June 6 – Westport
10am - Westport Point at end of Main Road
Friday, June 7 – Dartmouth
10am - Town Landing at Apponagansett Point
Monday, June 10 – Fairhaven
10am - Union Wharf
Tuesday, June 11 – Fairhaven
10am - Union Wharf
Wednesday - Friday, June 12, 13 & 14 – Plymouth
10am - Town Pier
