Maine's groundfishing industry could be regulated "out of existence" if federal regulators aren't careful, U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, warned yesterday at a field meeting in Portland.

Snowe's comment was in response to a plan proposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service to temporarily reduce the number of days New England's groundfishing fleet is allowed at sea from around 48 to 40, or by 18%, to rebuild depleted fish stocks. Snowe held a meeting of the Senate's subcommittee on Oceans, Atmospheres, Fisheries and the Coast Guard in Portland yesterday to listen to the public's opinions on the cuts proposed for 2009. In 1990, Maine had about 350 groundfishing boats that worked about 116 days a year, but only 75 or so operate today, according to a press release from Snowe's office.

James W. Balsiger, acting assistant administrator for fisheries at NMFS, said current regulations have been ineffective and that a new management approach for 2010, with quotas on the catch within given offshore areas, would better protect groundfish species, according to the Portland Press Herald.