U.S. Senate spending plan includes money for Maine lobstermen

(The Center Square) – Maine’s lobster industry could be getting more than $17 million from the federal government to help comply with new whale protection rules that could impact their livelihoods.

The funding, tucked into a $1.5 trillion spending package that passed the U.S. Senate on Thursday, provides $14 million to help lobstermen to cover the cost of new gear and equipment upgrades that will be required under the new federal rules, which are aimed at protecting critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

At least $2.3 million of the funding will be used for right whale research and monitoring, while another $760,000 will be available to the lobster industry for studying trends in the industry.

Members of the state’s congressional delegation who pushed for the funding – Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins and Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden – said the money will help pay for complying with the new regulations but reiterated concerns that the new rules are unfair and will negatively impact Maine’s storied lobster industry.

“Maine lobstermen and women have always been good stewards of the environment and have taken numerous actions to protect right whales when the science has been warranted,” the lawmakers said.

The omnibus spending package, which cleared the House of Representatives on Wednesday, is now headed to President Joe Biden’s desk for consideration.

The new regulations, which are set to go into effect on May 1, will require fishermen to make gear modifications to reduce the number of vertical lines in the water and will set a 950-square-mile section of the Gulf of Maine that will be off-limits to traditional lobstering during the lucrative winter months.

They will require buoyless or “ropeless” fishing gear – a new and costly technology that brings lobster traps to the surface using wireless signals – in some locations.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association filed a lawsuit in September seeking to block the regulations, which it says will cost the commercial fishing industry upward of $80 million.

Environmental regulators say the protections are necessary to prevent the extinction of North Atlantic right whales, whose numbers have dwindled to about 330 worldwide from ship collisions, entanglement in fishing gear, and poor reproduction rates.

Commercial fisherman say fatalities from entanglements are rare and the new rules will hurt an industry already struggling amid regulations and closures of fishing areas.

Patrice McCarron, the Maine Lobsterman Association’s executive director, praised lawmakers for approving the funding and “their recognition that the government’s flawed plan should be revised so that it protects whales without eliminating the lobster fishery.”

“The Maine lobster industry faces an uncertain future as a result of onerous federal regulations that are not based on sound science,” she said in a statement.

Two weeks ago, a Maine legislative committee approved a separate proposal to create a $30 million relief fund to provide financial help to the state’s lobster industry.

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