In a joint letter to NOAA Fisheries, the senators representing the U.S. state of Maine asked NOAA Fisheries to pay attention to the concerns of lobstermen over ropeless gear implementation. “Maine lobstermen’s concerns about ropeless gear are well-documented and deserve serious consideration,” the senators said. “It is important to give full and meaningful weight to concerns raised by fishermen regarding ropeless/on-demand fishing gear as NMFS’ core strategy for North Atlantic right whale conservation.” Ropeless gear – which eliminates the vertical lines that threaten whale entanglement by holding buoys on the seafloor until activated and released by a lobsterman – has been touted by conservation and sustainability groups as a technological solution that allows commercial fishers and whales to share the same space with a lower risk of entanglement. With only about 384 of the whales left in existence, there have been many calls for increased regulation to reduce entanglement risk. ...