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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 35 Number 7
March 2008
ME DMR proposes ‘low-profile’ rope alternative
HALLOWELL, ME – With concern mounting over the rapidly approaching Oct. 5 deadline to switch floating groundlines to sink rope, lobstermen’s representatives and state managers continue to look for an alternative to the rule that many Maine lobstermen say they cannot live with.
On Jan. 28, the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) submitted the “Maine Low-Profile Groundline Area Proposal” to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (TRT).
The TRT is an advisory body that helps NMFS develop protection measures for endangered whales. The TRT process is not a speedy one –the team isn’t scheduled to meet until May – and so the DMR proposal is unlikely to be a quick fix.
However, according to Terry Stockwell, DMR deputy commissioner for external affairs and a principal author of the proposal, it’s the best the agency can do at this point.
“We’ve long argued that Maine lobstermen need some flotation in rocky habitat,” he said. “This proposal is based on five years of research.”
Even as the proposal was being circulated among TRT members, NMFS staffers, congressional people, and other state fishery agencies, Stockwell said it still needed to be peer-reviewed by independent scientists. And a lot hinged on that review.
“We have to see whether or not this will pass scientific muster,” Stockwell said.
Two more areas
The DMR plan, which is being proposed as an amendment to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan, basically would create two additional sink rope exemption areas.
It would maintain the current exemption line shoreward of which there is no sink rope requirement and floating groundlines are allowed. Seaward of that it would create the “Maine State Waters Sliver” area.
Inside the sliver, fishermen would be required to:
Use “low-profile” groundlines, defined as rope having a specific gravity of 1.02 fabricated with a unique mark;
Limit the maximum length of groundlines to 10 fathoms;
Set no singles to reduce the number of endlines in the water; and
Use no more than one buoy for five traps or less.
The second area is called “Maine Federal Waters.” For the most part, it would run seaward of the Maine State Waters Sliver out to a boundary that is clearly defined by loran lines.
In Maine Federal Waters, low-profile groundlines would be allowed in place of sink rope in specific areas of rocky and tidal habitat in lobster Zones A-D. Groundline length would be limited to a maximum of 25 fathoms.
The DMR can extend its regulatory authority out into federal waters because the state enforces the most restrictive regulations.
“Our plan is more restrictive (than the federal plan) because we’re going to prohibit singles and require unique gear marking,” Stockwell explained.
Rope
The reason the federal whale plan requires sinking groundlines is that floating groundlines rise off the bottom to form an arc, and feeding right whales are believed to be at risk for catching the arced line in their mouths and then getting entangled as they struggle to free themselves.
Sinking groundline, however, gets caught up in the ledges and rocks on the sea floor, leading to hang downs, which can be extremely dangerous to lobstermen and their boats.
Through extensive testing, the DMR believes it has identified a rope that tends to hover about half a fathom or 3' off the bottom, which could reduce the risks to both whales and lobstermen.
In justifying the low-profile rope proposal, the DMR pointed out that without an alternative to sink rope, lobstermen in the eastern half of the state will feel they have no choice but to break up their trawls, so as to lose less gear to hang downs.
That would result in lobstermen fishing the same number of traps but with many more endlines. While this solution would be legal, it would actually increase the entanglement risk to whales, which is counter to the goals of the whale plan.
Stockwell said he knew few people – environmentalists or lobstermen – would be happy with the proposal but that it was one of the few options left.
“We’re not trying to duck our responsibility” for protecting whales, he said. “This is a different way of doing it. For most of Maine, sink rope is a safety and an operational issue.”
Field hearing
On Feb. 19, as Commercial Fisheries News was going to press, US Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) was holding a field hearing of the Senate Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard Subcommittee in Brewer, ME.
The purpose of the hearing was to discuss the new Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan regulations and the impact of those regulations on Maine’s lobster industry and fishing communities.
The witness list for the hearing ensured that people on all sides of the issue would hear each other’s arguments. Scheduled to speak were: Jim Lecky, director of the NMFS Office of Protected Resources; Vicki Cornish of The Ocean Conservancy; DMR Commissioner George Lapointe; and Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) Executive Director Patrice McCarron.
Defer enforcement
In her prepared remarks, McCarron said the MLA planned to ask NMFS to “exercise its discretion to defer enforcement of the sinking groundline requirement with respect to Maine lobstermen until after the 2008 lobster fishing season.”
She explained that the Oct. 5 deadline comes during the peak of the fishery. In order to comply by that date, Maine lobstermen would have to purchase the appropriate gear now. And that, McCarron said, puts them “in an untenable position” because:
NMFS hasn’t given lobstermen enough guidance on how to buy and deploy groundline that complies with the rule;
There’s not enough time to come into compliance even if clear guidance was available because the Oct. 5 deadline is out of synch with the lobster fishing season;
There is a lack of procedures for certifying that rope complies with the new rule;
The sinking groundline requirement puts “Maine lobstermen in jeopardy of unspecified enforcement consequences for failure to comply with vague and unenforceable standards;” and
The new rule is being implemented “without adequate coordination between federal and state enforcement authorities.”
More analysis
In her remarks, McCarron also commented on the DMR’s low-profile groundline proposal. She called the proposal “a substantial improvement” because “it recognizes that the rocky coastal terrain and strong currents present off the Maine coast require some degree of groundline flotation to permit Maine lobstermen to fish safely and efficiently.”
However, McCarron added that the proposal’s acceptance of the Oct. 5 compliance deadline was “unrealistic.”
“The rope proposed by the Maine DMR is not currently available commercially and, thus, cannot be purchased in time for the upcoming season,” she said.
While saying that the MLA appreciates the DMR effort and believes it warrants further review, McCarron said that effort should go hand-in-hand with the association’s work to scientifically analyze the behavior of whales and their interactions with lobster fishing in Maine.
“If enforcement of the sinking groundline requirement is deferred, this would provide a window of opportunity for further study of the low-profile groundline proposal, as well as the additional scientific and economic analyses we believe are needed,” McCarron said.
Lorelei Stevens
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