Federal regulators on Wednesday voted to exempt the lobster fishery from measures aimed at saving plummeting cod stocks in the Gulf of Maine.
The New England Fishery Management Council is expected later on Wednesday to vote to close off coastal fishing grounds during certain months to protect spawning cod stocks for the fishing season that begins on May 1. Similar closures are already in place under an emergency measure that will expire in six months.
Those areas are generally on fishing grounds between Massachusetts Bay and southern Maine.
Meeting in Newport, Rhode Island, the council on Wednesday morning rejected a recommendation to also ban lobster gear in the closed areas.
That means lobstermen will be allowed to set traps in areas were commercial and recreational fishing is prohibited.
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