PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A new Coast Guard rule has closed down fishing grounds around a remote Maine island following the discovery of unexploded bombs on the ocean bottom from when the Navy used the rocky outcropping as an aerial bombing range.
The Coast Guard put the rule into effect last week. It establishes a safety zone banning mariners from the shallow lobster-rich waters around Seal Island.
The island, which serves as a nesting ground for the once-endangered puffin, is closed to public access. The waters surrounding the island are listed as a "danger zone" on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration nautical charts.
Lobstermen object to the rule, arguing that traps have been hauled there for decades without any problems.
About 30 fishermen tend to hundreds of traps in the waters.
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