Meeting in Portland, the New England Fishery Management Council said it would nevertheless continue to develop alternative management strategies, but not in time for the next round of regulations, which will take effect May 1, 2009.

The council also said it would consider proposals by groups of fishermen, connected by geography or fishing style, to be recognized as "sectors." Fishermen in such sectors can pool their allotments of fishing days to create more flexibility for individuals. Just two sectors have been recognized, but there are 19 sector applications before the council, including one by groundfishermen from Port Clyde.

The council's vote to stick with the days-at-sea approach was 13-4.

Reaction was mixed. Some fishermen and conservation groups praised the council's action, saying it was the best it could do considering the time crunch. But other Maine fishermen said it could take years for the council to develop alternative management schemes, and they will not survive under the current system.

"Some people are losing under days-at-sea. There's no way I'm going to make it," said Craig Pendleton, a Saco fisherman. "Five years ago we created a process to develop alternatives, but now we're right back where we started. We've just been at this for too long and we still don't know where we are going."

Others said that the council's vote would help the development of alternatives.

Terry Stockwell, a council member and an official with the Maine Department of Marine Resources, said federal deadlines leave no time to accomplish the reforms that Pendleton and others advocate.

John Williamson, a former council member who now works for the Ocean Conservancy, said he was pleased that the council made a commitment to continue to work on alternative plans.

"I think the council did what needed to be done," he said.

The council, which manages commercial fish species in federal waters off New England -- is under pressure from Congress to create new standards for rebuilding depleted fish stocks and establish ways to hold fishermen and regulators more accountable for rebuilding efforts.

The council also voted to begin developing alternatives to days- at-sea restrictions, such as the "area-management" strategy that would give fishermen control of fish stocks in certain waters, or a system that allocates fishermen points that they can "spend" by catching higher-priced troubled species or lower-priced ones that are less threatened.

Work on those approaches will continue while regulators modify the current regulations. "I look at it as a vote in support of the alternatives," Stockwell said. "We voted to modify the current days-at-sea while continuing to develop alternative management for the future."

The meeting room at the Eastland Hotel was packed with fishermen, seafood wholesalers, processors and environmentalists from all over New England. When it came time for public comment, council Chairman John Pappalardo recognized many by their first names.

Opinion was split between people who supported the council's gradual approach and those who wanted more drastic action.

Robin Alden, executive director of the Penobscot East Resource Center in Stonington and an advocate of area management, said the Down East fishing industry will be gone before the alternatives are developed if the council doesn't act quickly.

"There are parts of the Gulf of Maine that are not responding (to current management practices,)" she said. "Before you do any major sector allocations, you have to have some discussion about management options."

Glen Libby, a Port Clyde fisherman who was...