A coalition of Maine lobster fishing groups, along with Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, are calling on Congress to extend a right whale regulatory moratorium for another ten years.
The moratorium, championed by Maine's entire congressional delegation and slipped into a last-minute budget bill during the final days of 2022, prohibited the federal government from implementing new restrictions on the lobster fishery that are intended to protect North Atlantic right whales.
The regulatory pause is set to lift at the end of 2028. But Golden, who represents Maine's second congressional district, said Tuesday he believes the moratorium should be extended until 2035.
Last summer, the state of Maine started conducting its own research to study the presence of right whales in the Gulf of Maine. State officials have said they want their data, which takes some time to put together, to inform the federal government's new regulations.
And officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have said they aren't planning to restart lengthy discussions about new regulations until next year, Golden pointed out.
"Lobstermen will have insufficient time to work in a good faith way to plan for new regulations, and may well find themselves unable to comply," Golden said Tuesday during a House subcommittee meeting about a legislative proposal that could make a variety of changes to the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
The draft bill, written by Republican Rep. Nick Begich (Alaska), includes a provision extending the right whale regulatory moratorium until 2035. It also suggests that NOAA officials must use the "best available science" — and not "worst case scenarios" — when writing new regulations that are intended to protect right whales and other large marine mammals.
The Maine Lobstermen's Association, the Downeast Lobstermen's Association, the Maine Lobstering Union and the New England Fishermen's Stewardship Association are among the fishermen's groups who have endorsed the concept bill.
Conservationists and marine scientists, however, argue that the critically endangered right whale population — which has about 370 individuals remaining — does not have time to wait for new protections. Entanglement in fishing gear and vessel strikes are the leading causes of death and injury to right whales.
