photo credit: Marc Albert/KRCB
Ordinary crab traps are a danger to migrating whales

Beneath the waves of the open ocean, whales face can a deadly risk---getting caught in ropes and lines connecting crab traps with floating buoys, and drowning.

Officials, pushed by environmental lawsuits, have responded by delaying commercial fishing seasons until migrating whales have cleared those fishing grounds.

Those actions haven't been universally welcome. Environmentalists say whales are still being killed, while crabbers argue the added restrictions are sinking them financially.

There may be middle ground though. 

Last week state officials announced regulators will help pay for real world trials of something promoted as a possible technological solution---rope-less crab traps.

The traps remain on the ocean floor, and aren't attached to buoys with ropes. To reel them in, a shipboard device sends a coded GPS signal from above. If everything works right, the trap floats to the surface for retrieval.

Crabbers have been reluctant to make the investment in the new gear due to both higher costs and fears they won't work in real world conditions.

Now the state Ocean Protection Council says it will make a quarter million dollars worth of rope-less traps that will be lent out for crabbers to try.

A total of 20 crabbers have been recruited to test the gear this spring in areas closed to conventional gear.

Officials say if the trial proves successful, the use of rope-less gear could be permitted statewide next year, allowing crabbers to continue fishing after areas are closed to traditional crabbing gear.