The White House has expressed support for making the moratorium on new regulations pertaining to North Atlantic Right Whale valid through 2035.
Friday afternoon, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a State of Administration Policy backing a bill Rep. Jared Golden’s (D) bill extending the current regulatory moratorium by seven years.
The original moratorium, set to expire in 2028, was secured in 2022 while former President Joe Biden was in office, due in part to the urging of Maine’s congressional delegation alongside Gov. Janet Mills (D).
In its notice, the OMB explained that the effort to extend this moratorium is in alignment with the Administration’s priorities as outlined in Executive Order 14276, Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness, which seeks to “promote the adoption of new technology and the productive harvest of our seafood resources.”
“The need to protect Maine’s iconic lobster industry knows no party,” said Golden in a statement Friday. “I’m grateful for the President’s support for Maine’s lobstermen and hopeful that my colleagues in the House will join me in quickly passing this bill into law.”
“Before we enacted this moratorium, Maine’s lobster industry was on the verge of shutting down because of proposed regulations that were onerous and based on flawed science and hypothetical scenarios rather than the reality on the water,” Golden wrote.
“Extending the moratorium will give lobstermen and their communities stability and peace of mind, protect an industry worth half a billion dollars annually and give the government time to get the science right,” said Golden.
Click Here to Read Rep. Golden’s Statement
“This legislation is critical to ensuring the long-term stability of American fisheries for generations to come,” said John Drouin, vice president of the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association, according to the Associated Press.
Last month, Sen. Susan Collins (R) and Sen. Angus King (I) called for continued engagement with seafood industry stakeholders regarding concerns over ropeless gear, also known as “on-demand” gear.
In a letter to the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries at the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Eugenio Piñero Soler, the senators urged consideration of alternatives such as Dynamic Area Management.
Sens. Collins and King explained in their letter that while Maine has made “meaningful progress” toward the eventual adoption of innovative fishing technologies, there are still “substantial issues” that must be resolved before they are “suitable for broad implementation in Maine’s fisheries.”
“Cost and increased trip time are among the most significant barriers,” they said. “Interoperability is another unresolved and critical challenge.”
[RELATED: Susan Collins and Angus King Urge Federal Gov’t to Listen to Lobstermen on Ropeless Gear]
The Maine Lobstermen’s Association has indicated that adopting ropeless gear would cost at least $45 million in total due to the expense of trawling up, acquiring and adding weak points, purchasing specialized rope, lengthening groundlines, marking gear, and hiring additional crew to complete this work.
Conservationists often advocate for the use of ropeless gear on the grounds that it helps to minimize harmful interactions with the North Atlantic right whale, which has been considered endangered since 1970 with a population of roughly 380.
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