Senator Collins Announces More Than $17 Million to Support Maine’s Lobster Industry, Improve Flawed Right Whale Data
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Governor Janet Mills, and Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) Commissioner Patrick Keliher announced that Maine DMR has received $17,252,551 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to gather critical data to help protect Maine’s iconic lobster industry from any future onerous regulations.
This funding is the result of the Fiscal Year 2023 government funding package passed by Congress in December 2022, which included a regulatory pause for Maine’s lobster industry and is in effect until December 31, 2028. This government funding package also established a $26 million fund for states with lobster fisheries administered by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Senator Collins, Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee, played a key role in advancing this funding and regulatory pause.
“This federal funding is critical to improving the flawed and incomplete data that is being used to create unnecessary, burdensome requirements for Maine lobstermen and women,” said Senator Collins. “As the Vice Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, I am committed to continuing to advocate for this funding that supports the imperative work the Maine Department of Marine Resources is doing to support the future of Maine’s iconic lobster industry.”
“Maine’s lobster industry has a long and proud tradition of responsible harvesting practices and good environmental stewardship, including significant investments by lobstermen in to protect right whales,” said Governor Mills. “These funds will ensure that federal regulators can no longer burden this vital industry with management decisions based on poor data that threaten the livelihoods of thousands of Mainers. I thank Maine’s Congressional Delegation for its work to secure this important funding.”
“The funding for this important work is due to the extraordinary efforts of Maine’s Congressional delegation and Governor Mills, who coordinated closely last year to ensure the necessary time and funding to conduct this critically important research,” said Commissioner Keliher. “Having better data on whale distribution in addition to gear location and configuration will vastly improve the ability of the federal government to focus their efforts on the areas of greatest risk.”
The lack of data on NARW presence and fishing effort in the Gulf of Maine (GOM) has resulted in high uncertainty in existing models that the federal government uses to determine the risk of serious injury and mortality to right whales by lobster gear. This money will allow DMR to expand NARW research and improve the assessment of risk to NARWs posed by fixed gear fisheries in advance of future federal rulemakings.
Specifically, Maine DMR will use these funds to improve data on NARW presence by conducting passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) at 26 sites throughout the Gulf of Maine (GOM). These sites will be in addition to eight PAM moorings deployed since 2020 in collaboration with Northeast Fisheries Science Center and the University of Maine. In addition, DMR will conduct surveys of NARWs in the GOM by boat and airplane, as well as surveys of the primary food source for NARWs, a species of zooplankton known as Calanus finmarchicus.
Earlier this year, Senator Collins advanced $30 million—a $4 million increase over Fiscal Year 2023 levels—to continue to support this effort led by Maine DMR, along with additional funding and language to support Maine’s lobster industry in the Fiscal Year 2024 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) appropriations bill.
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