Senator Olympia Snowe is asking the federal government to help lobstermen pay for a required gear change.
Snowe and Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) today asked the Bush Administration to include at least $14 million in the 2009 fiscal year budget to help lobstermen comply with a new rule, which takes effect in October 2008, requiring them to use sinking rope instead of floating rope, according to a press release. The gear change is intended to keep right whales from getting tangled in the rope.
Industry experts have put the cost of complying with the gear change at between $10,000 and $15,000 per lobsterman, and up to $85,000 per vessel.
