Maine lawmakers urge Biden to rescind whale protection rules

(The Center Square) – Maine lawmakers are calling on President Joe Biden to rescind new whale protection rules that will make a nearly 1,000 mile section of the state’s coastline off limits to lobstermen during the lucrative winter months.

In a letter signed by more than 150 lawmakers – including House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, and Senate Minority Leader Jeffery Timberlake, R-Androscoggin – they said the new restrictions aimed at protecting North Atlantic right whales “threaten to irreparably harm Maine’s iconic, sustainable lobster fishery.”

“Maine lobstermen will suffer significant economic harm for a measure that provides a little conservation benefit to right whales,” the lawmakers wrote. “For the sake of our fishermen and women, our coastal communities, and our great state, we request that you take the steps necessary for your administration to immediately rescind the closure area.”

The lawmakers also call on the federal agencies to “re-engage” with the state and its commercial fishermen to “find a path forward that both protects the endangered right whale but also follows the facts and best known science in dealing with our fisheries.”

The letter was initiated by state Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, a lobster fisherman.

Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, and members of the state’s congressional delegation have also expressed their dismay over the new whale protection rules.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new regulations, which were finalized last week, 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 from October through January.

The plan will allow buoyless or “ropeless” fishing gear – a new and more costly technology that brings lobster traps to the surface using wireless signals.

Scientists say North Atlantic right whales are at risk from ship collisions and entanglement in fishing gear. The population of right whales has dwindled to about 360. The species has also been hindered by poor reproduction and several years of high mortality, research has shown.

Environmental activists have been pressuring fisheries managers to ban commercial fishing nets and gear in state waters to prevent entanglements of whales and turtles.

But commercial fishermen say the new whale protection regulations will imperil an industry that is already struggling amid stringent regulation and closures of fishing areas.

They point out that the National Marine Fisheries Service’s data shows that Maine lobster fishery hasn’t documented an entanglement with a North Atlantic right whale in more than 17 years and has never been known to kill or seriously injure a right whale. Meanwhile, studies suggest that the right whales migration patterns have shifted away from Maine’s waters, they say.

“The final rule is just the first round of economic impacts to us, and future restrictions will likely destroy Maine’s iconic lobster fishery,” Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said in a statement. “The MLA does not believe the scientific record supports implementation of the 10-year federal plan.”

Federal regulators estimated the closure will affect about 120 commercial fishing vessels, costing lobster between 5% and 10% of their annual revenue annually.

Meanwhile, the gear conversions required as part of the new regulations will cost an estimated $6 million and $13 million a year.

In a letter to Biden, the lawmakers point out that a new gear marking requirement that was added to the final rule will require lobstermen to make other costly modifications.

“This gear marking requirement was never presented to the public during the rulemaking process and NMFS did not analyze the operational or economic costs,” they wrote.

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