August 5, 2019 — The Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office is holding meetings to solicit public comments on ways to reduce the risk of entanglement in trap and pot fisheries for right, humpback, and finback whales.
NOAA will be conducting eight scoping meetings this month, four of which will be in Maine.
This is being done in anticipation of preparing a draft Environmental Impact Statement for modifications to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan.
One of those meetings will take place in Waldoboro, on Wednesday, Aug. 14, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., at Medomak Valley High School.
NOAA is requesting comments on management options particularly including information about operational challenges, time, and costs required to modify gear by changing configurations such as traps per trawl to reduce endline numbers, installing new line or sleeves and by expanding gear marking requirements.
Written comments are also welcomed.
Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public comments by sending an email to gar.ALWTRT2019@noaa.gov using the subject line “Comments on Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan Scoping.”