PORTLAND -- New England fishermen would have their days at sea cut once again under interim fishing rules that are being proposed for the 2009 fishing year that begins May 1.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, which announced the proposed rules today, says fishermen will have an 18 percent reduction in the number of days they are allowed to fish.

On top of that, an area that counts each day at sea as two days would be expanded to include virtually the entire Gulf of Maine. Regulators also want to ban fishermen from keeping certain types of flounder and an eel-like fish known as ocean pout.

The rules are intended to be an interim measure until regulators develop a new set of rules known as Amendment 16 scheduled to go into effect May 1, 2010. The public has 30 days to comment.