U.S. Senator Susan Collins today sent a letter to Dr. William Hogarth, Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service expressing concern with a decision that will impact Washington County lobstermen.
On Friday, October 12th, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service established a Dynamic Area Management (DAM) zone in an area off the coast of Machias. NMFS says the purpose of the DAM is to respond to a recent sighting of endangered Northern right whales in the area. Lobstermen, however, say this decision will force them to remove their traps from the water for 15 days, during the peak of the lobster fishing season. The DAM zone will take effect on October 20th and could run through November 3rd, 2007.
The following is the full text of the letter:
Dr. Bill Hogarth
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries
NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service
1315 East-West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Dear Dr. Hogarth,
On October 12, 2007, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) established a Dynamic Area Management (DAM) zone in Downeast Maine that would require lobstermen to modify their gear to ensure the safety of an aggregation of endangered right whales spotted in the area. This requirement poses a significant burden on lobstermen in the area and provides only questionable protective value for the right whales that were sighted.
I am concerned that imposing a DAM zone at the height of the fishing season will have a severe economic impact on Maine’s lobstermen without any assurance that such measures will protect right whales. I have been contacted by several lobstermen who note that most lobster boats can safely haul 30 to 100 traps at a time. As a result, for most lobstermen who have up to 850 traps in the water, compliance with the regulation is difficult, if not impossible. Furthermore, it is unclear the aggregation of right whales spotted earlier this month are still in the area. It would be incredibly unfortunate to impose such a hardship on Maine’s lobstermen only to discover that the right whales had moved on.
While it is important to do all we can to ensure the safety of the North American right whale, we must do so in the most sensible and realistic manner. I would therefore urge you to conduct additional aerial surveillance of the area to ensure the accuracy of the original sighting data. Before calling on Maine’s lobstermen to forfeit a highly lucrative part of the fishing season, I would urge you to confirm the whales are still in the area.
Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.
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