Suppliers of rope to the fishermen in Maine are unhappy with the decision of the authority banning rope to help whales. They complained that the fishing rope piled high in his pickup truck and trailer was still good, except for one thing: Come Sunday, it will be illegal.
According to a new federal regulation the use of floating rope is illegal as it connects millions of lobster traps on the ocean bottom and sometimes entangles endangered North Atlantic right whales. Marine scientists and conservationists explained that using rope that sinks will make the whales less prone to getting snagged as they lumber through the Gulf of Maine each spring and summer.
But for the lobstermen this rule will increase costs and do little, if anything, to help whales. They claim the regulation is overkill and could make lobstermen as endangered as the whales. They opined that the rule would slowly drive them out of the lobster business. Vicki Cornish, of the Washington, D.C.-based Ocean Conservancy group, informed that whale advocates maintain the rule is a vital tool to protect right whales. Five cases have been documented in recent years of the whales getting tangled in gear set by Maine lobstermen.
To protect the whales, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration set speed limits for ships 65 feet or longer in areas where they breed, feed and migrate. Last fall, East Coast fishermen who use certain types of nets were required to use sinking rope to reduce entanglements. On Sunday, thousands of lobstermen and other trap fishermen from Maine to the Southeast have to do the same.
Government grants that are available to buy back the old rope have cushioned the financial blow. But fishermen say they’ll still have to spend thousands of dollars each on the new rope. Fishermen say the sinking rope is more expensive than floating rope and won’t last as long because it sits on the ocean bottom, where it scrapes and snags on rocks. And because the rope is prone to break, lobstermen say they’ll lose traps.
