Yup, that’s part of one of the new whale entanglement regulations that have recently been implemented. Fishermen now have to put a length of a certain colored rope in a couple segments of each vertical line. This is so that if a whale becomes entangled they will know if it came from Maine waters and roughly what part of Maine waters it got entangled in. It’s a pain in the ass for the fishermen but I think it’s a great thing, for now we can actually get data on how many whales are getting entangled in Maine fishing gear.