By Sean Horgan Staff Writer Dec 24, 2020
Jan 20, 2021
The Massachusetts lobster industry should find out in late January whether the state will bar lobstering in all state waters from February to May as a protective measure for the imperiled North Atlantic right whales.
The state Division of Marine Fisheries has drafted new protective recommendations that, if approved on Jan. 28 by the state Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission, would prohibit lobstermen in 2021 from setting or hauling traps throughout state waters during the months coinciding with the right whales annual migration and feeding though Massachusetts waters.
The proposals also mandate lobstermen use weaker vertical buoy lines designed to break under 1,700 pounds of tension to help mitigate whale entanglements in fishing gear.