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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 36 Number 7
March 2009
April 5 effective date for sink rope groundline requirement
GLOUCESTER, MA – The federal broad-based sinking groundline requirement, long feared and fiercely fought by some members of the lobster industry, is scheduled to go into effect on April 5.
It is just the latest in a series of measures mandated by the revised Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP) that impact the lobster trap, other trap, and gillnet fisheries all along the East Coast.
The sinking groundline requirement for the gillnet fishery went into effect on Oct. 5, 2008.
The requirements apply in state and federal waters seaward of very specific exemption lines. In addition to the broad-based sinking groundline rule, fixed-gear fishermen must now comply with expanded gear modification measures and extensive gear marking requirements.
If there is a silver lining to all of this it is that dynamic area management, aptly dubbed the “DAM” program, will be eliminated once the broad-based sinking groundline rule for traps comes on line.
Fishermen no longer will have to change or remove their gear when groups of endangered North Atlantic right whales are seen in their area because they already will be using gear modified to reduce the risk of entanglement to whales.
Full information on how to comply with the ALWTRP regulations is available online at <www.nero.noaa.gov/whaletrp>. Or call Diane Borggaard at (978) 282-8453 or John Higgins at (207) 677-2316.
Rope exchange
In addition to serious safety concerns, many Maine lobstermen resisted the switch from floating groundline to sinking groundline because of the huge costs involved.
To help defray those costs, the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation has used grant money to fund the Bottom Line Project. Since it started in May 2007, the project has collected almost one million pounds of poly float line, paying 694 fishermen $1.40 per pound to use towards the purchase of replacement sink line.
The final groundline exchange events are scheduled the week of March 23 in Rockland and Ellsworth. All licensed Maine lobstermen were sent registration cards at the end of October for this last exchange and registration was on a first-come, first-served basis.
A total of 600 lobstermen responded, asking to exchange around 625,000 pounds of poly. However, because the limited funds would only cover the purchase of about half that amount, the program was only able to accept 288 lobstermen.
There are currently about 400 lobstermen on a waiting list for exchange assistance. While there is no additional grant money at this time to fund future exchanges, Laura Ludwig, project manager, said the foundation was working to create new opportunities for fishermen to receive compensation for the soon-to-be-banned float rope.
“We’d like to do this for a lot more people,” she said in late February.
Ludwig encouraged any lobsterman who needs assistance to stop by the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation booth at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum March 5-8 to sign up for possible future programs.
For more information, visit the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation web site at <www.gomlf.org> or call Ludwig at (207) 263-5300. /cfn/
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