I am deeply concerned about the health of all ocean life, especially that of the large whales along our Atlantic Coast. For this reason, I am most troubled to learn that these creatures are becoming entangled, injured and sometimes killed in fishing gear placed in their habitat. It is especially troubling that this danger poses a threat the extremely endangered North Atlantic right whale when solutions exist that have yet to be fully implemented.

Therefore I urge you to strengthen the proposals contained in the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) to maximize protection for these whales. The preferred alternative in the DEIS must be strengthened in the following ways:

• Require year-round fishing gear modifications, including weak links in gill and drift nets effective enough to allow whales to escape entanglement;


• Maximize the use of sinking line in lobster trap fisheries including on vertical lines;


• Minimize the use of vertical lines in trap fisheries, such as requiring the use of a single vertical line at one end of a line of traps as opposed to one at each end;


• Be very cautious in maintaining areas of habitat closed to fishing gear along the East Coast on a seasonal basis, or when whales are known to be present until the necessary and proven gear modifications are in place.