August 23, 2019 — Lobstermen will get another bite at the right whale problem over the next few weeks at a series of meetings scheduled by the Department of Marine Resources.
The meetings are being held to discuss rules proposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service that could force Maine fishermen to cut the number of vertical buoy lines they use by 50 percent.
Earlier this week, DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher announced that he would hold a second round of meetings with each of the state’s seven Lobster Zone Management Councils to consider area-by-area suggestions of how to deal with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s proposed rule that would require a 50 percent reduction of vertical endlines on lobster traps in much of the Gulf of Maine.