UPDATE: Commercial lobstering ban to begin March 5
Feb. 24—The closure of virtually all Massachusetts state waters to commercial lobstering will commence on March 5 and run at least until May 1 as the central element in the state's enhanced protection measures for North Atlantic right whales.
The closure initially is set to extend to May 15, but the state Division of Marine Fisheries retains the discretion to reopen all or portions of the closure after May 1 if it determines right whales no longer are present in state waters.
The state plan also contains new gear restrictions, including the use of break-away lines and maximum buoy line diameters to mitigate the potential for whale entanglements in gear.
Those gear restrictions, calling for ropes that break at 1,700 pounds of pressure and buoy lines with a diameter no larger than 3/8 of an inch, will not go into effect until May 1, according to DMF.
"The gear modification rules will not go into effect until May 2021 to provide fishermen with time to alter their gear configuration," the state's fisheries regulator stated in the advisory announcing the timeline for the new measures.
On Jan. 28, the Massachusetts Fisheries Advisory Commission approved the package aimed at providing more protection for the endangered right whales whose total population now is estimated at about 366.
In fishing seasons beyond 2021, the closure will begin Feb. 1 and incorporate the same period of regulatory discretion between May 1 and May 15.
The closure is timed to coincide with the period in late winter and early spring when right whales are most prevalent in state waters during their annual feeding migration north.
The state closure stretches north from Scituate Harbor to the New Hampshire border. It encompasses Cape Ann, where the impact is not expected to be as severe as that experienced by lobstermen in Buzzards Bay and Nantucket Sound because of the earlier start to their season.
Massachusetts is the second biggest exporter of lobster, behind Maine, in the U.S. Gloucester is the Bay State's top port when it comes to lobster landings, while Rockport is in the top five.
As part of the new measures, the state is geographically expanding a Jan. 15 to May 15 commercial gillnet closure in Cape Cod Bay to include an area between Plymouth and Scituate. That goes into effect March 5, as well.
The Massachusetts Fisheries Advisory Commission also approved DMF's recommendation to establish a recreational lobster and crab gear closure to run from Nov. 1 to May 15.
"This requires recreational lobster and crab trap fishermen to remove their gear from the water by November 1 and not reset the gear until after May 15," DMF stated. "This new rule goes into effect this year on March 5, 2021."
Because the new rule is being implemented in-season, DMF is advising recreational trap fishermen to refrain from setting trap gear until after May 15.
"If gear is currently in the water, then it may be removed and returned to the owner by the DMF or the Massachusetts Environmental Police," the agency stated. "This closure period applies only to buoyed recreational lobster and crab trap gear and not unbuoyed gear that is fished and retrieved from the shoreline."
Contact Sean Horgan at 978-675-2714, or shorgan@gloucestertimes.com. Follow him on Twitter at @SeanGDT
