As of 12:01 this morning, (Thursday, Oct. 16) only fishing gear that has been modified to comply with the requirements of the NMFS Dynamic Area Management (DAM) program may be used in a roughly 38-mile square area southeast of Portland. The northeast corner of the DAM zone is located about six miles off Fletcher Neck at the western entrance to the Saco River. The northeastern corner is located about 30 miles southeast of Pemaquid Point. For the present, the DAM requirements are set to expire at midnight on Oct. 30.

On Oct. 5, NMFS spotters sighted a group of four right whales swimming some 25 miles southeast of the mouth of Casco Bay. The whales were presumably on their annual winter migration from the Bay of Fundy to the waters off the coast of Florida.

Scientists say that the giant marine mammals are extremely rare. Fewer than 350 right whales are believed to survive in the western North Atlantic, and efforts to protect the tiny stock have led to contentious battles among NMFS, the fishing industry and several national conservation groups.

In August, after years of study, the fisheries service published the final environmental impact statement (EIN) a proposed rule establishing a 10-knot speed limit in designated areas along the East Coast for vessels larger than 65 feet. The restriction would extend out to 20 nautical miles around several major ports. The rule would also call for a voluntary speed limit in other areas whenever a group of three or more right whales was spotted.

The DAM zone requirements require all lobster gear to be rigged with groundlines made from sinking rope. The upper two-thirds of all buoy lines must also be made of sinking rope, and no more than two buoys may be used to mark a trawl, or group, of lobster traps. A weak link must be used to connect all buoys to their lines. Similar restrictions apply gillnet gear, but there are also rules requiring weak links at several points around the nets themselves.

The NMFS decision to establish the DAM zone came after a U.S. District Court judge issued an injunction in a suit by The Humane Society of the United States and Defenders of Wildlife after the agency decided to postpone until next April a requirement in the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP) that lobstermen along most of the Maine coast use only sinking rope for groundlines. Initially, the sinking rope requirement was to become effective this month and was to replace other ALWTRP restrictions, including the use of DAM zones.

Led by the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, the lobster industry mounted a fierce battle against the sinking rope rule, arguing that there was virtually no scientific evidence that it would to anything to reduce whale entanglements in fishing gear. Lobstermen also argued that it would be too costly for them to use sinking rope, especially given the limited documented conservation benefits, and that sinking rope could not be safely used in areas with rocky bottoms.

In the end, the NMFS rejected those arguments but agreed to let lobstermen complete the 2008 fishing season before modifying their traps.