PORTLAND, Maine (Reuter) -- Federal regulators, pressured by New England's lobster industry, on Tuesday unveiled a less restrictive proposal to protect endangered Atlantic whales.
The rules are designed to protect whales from entanglement in fishing gear by requiring some equipment modifications and prohibiting lobstering in a few areas when whales are known to be present.
"I don't think (the rules) are watered down ... I think they're more workable for both the whales and the fishermen," said Andrew Rosenberg, the National Marine Fisheries Service's regional administrator.
The new proposal won initial praise from the industry and its political supporters, who had argued that a more extensive plan proposed this year would have cost at least $50 million and forced many lobstermen out of business.
"With this announcement we will be all right," said Robin Alden, Maine's Commissioner of Marine Resources, who had threatened to sue the federal government over its original proposal.
Alden said the controversy had made lobstermen more aware of the danger some gear poses for whales, in particular the northern right whale, whose population has been reduced to an estimated 300.
"(The whales) now have 7,000 friends looking out for them on the ocean," Alden said, citing a proposal to train fishermen to assist special rescue crews that will disentangle the whales.
Whales caught in gear can drown or be unable to eat. They can drag a tangle of lines and lobster traps for years. Officials hope to reduce the northern right whale's death rate from entanglement to less than one per year.
The fishing industry had complained they were being singled out for regulation. Rosenberg acknowledged whales also face the danger of being hit by ships, but said his agency cannot regulate the shipping industry.
"This is not just a problem for the fishing industry, it is a problem for people who live on the East Coast and value the (whale) resource," Rosenberg told reporters.
The rules will also restrict the use of gill nets used off New England and drift nets used off Georgia and Florida. The United States also will work with Canada to coordinate whale protection efforts.