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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 9
May 2007
Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation poly rope exchange starts May 21
KENNEBUNK, ME – The Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation’s (GOMLF) Bottom Line Project has announced the start of the rope exchange process for Maine lobstermen.
Phase I of the rope buyback will run for six days beginning on Monday, May 21 and ending on Saturday, May 26 at the RC Moore Transportation Station located at 8 Ginn Road in Scarborough between 7 am and 5 pm.
According to Project Manager Laura Ludwig, the foundation has enough funding to exchange one million pounds of rope. This first phase will collect a maximum of 500,000 pounds of rope, and there will be at least two if not three other collections, she added.
“In early April, we sent out information packets to about 400 lobstermen who fish in Zone G and/or federal waters (coastwide). These were lobstermen who expressed an interest in the collection through the survey that was sent out last fall and are impacted the most by Dynamic Area Management (DAM) zone closures,” explained Ludwig.
In brief
Here are some important things lobstermen should know about the exchange:
• This is not a mandatory program;
• The collection is for used poly groundline and tailer warps only;
• Lobstermen must register to participate in the Phase I collection no later than May 1;
• Each participating lobsterman will be assigned a drop-off time to streamline the collection process;
• The maximum amount of rope that can be turned in is 3,500-pounds or 15,000 fathoms per person;
• Lobstermen can exchange a portion of their rope now and some at a later collection; and
• Rope must be coiled or bundled and free from gangions and hog rings.
How it will work
At the drop-off, lobstermen will receive a voucher toward the purchase of new sink rope. Lobstermen should take their vouchers to a participating rope dealer, keeping in mind that the vouchers are only good for 60 days.
Additionally, all sink rope purchased must comply with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) standard for negatively buoyant line, which is line that has a specific gravity greater than that of seawater (1.03) and does not float up in the water column.
The Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation encourages lobstermen to contact a participating rope dealer in advance to discuss their rope needs.
At press time in late April, NMFS had not released the final rule regarding the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan, which it withdrew in early February due to issues raised during a Government Accountability Office (GAO) review.
However, fishermen who returned the foundation’s survey probably helped make the case that NMFS’s no-sink-rope proposal was going to be extremely costly for the industry.
According to Ludwig, the GAO contacted the Maine Lobstermen’s Association and the foundation for information during its investigation of the NMFS proposed rule.
“Through the survey responses, we were able to quantify the economic impact and gear loss to the GAO,” said Ludwig.
For more information on the rope exchange project, contact Laura Ludwig directly at (207) 263-5300.
Rosanne Mizzoni
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