January 20, 2015 — Federal regulators are considering changing new rules on lobstering equipment to allow single lobster pots within three miles of shore, easing the total ban on such traps scheduled for June 1.
Federal regulators are considering changing new rules on lobster fishing equipment to allow single lobster pots within 3 miles of shore, easing the total ban on such traps scheduled for June 1.
New regulations set by the National Marine Fisheries Service ban the use of lobstering equipment from Feb. 1 to April 30 off the Massachusetts coast. The goal is to reduce the chances of whales becoming entangled in the gear.
The regulations also ban single pots – or one trap per buoy line – outright starting June 1. Lobstermen would therefore have to tether multiple pots along a single line.
But the state Division of Marine Fisheries is challenging the federal rules to allow single pots close to shore in three areas. It requested a 3-mile buffer on the outer Cape, which includes the South Shore.
Among other exemptions the state is seeking, it has asked the federal agency to allow lines and buoys to be attached to both ends – rather than just one end – of trawls joining four and five lobster traps.
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