TRENTON, Maine (AP)   Maine fishery regulators are meeting with lobster fishermen along the coast to begin the process of crafting rules to better protect endangered whales.

A team assembled by the federal government has called for the removal of half the vertical trap lines from the Gulf of Maine. The Maine Department of Marine Resources says it will hold seven meetings in June to help develop a proposal to meet that goal.

The meetings are taking place in the state’s seven lobster fishing zones and will begin June 4 and end on June 27. They’re slated to take place in Trenton, Deer Isle, Kennebunk, Wiscasset, East Machias, Rockport and Freeport.

Lobster fishermen have voiced concerns about the gear reductions because of the fishery’s economic importance to the state.