February 25, 2022 — A Maine legislative panel has rejected a proposed legal fund to buoy lobstermen whose livelihoods could be impacted by pending new federal regulations.
The Committee on Marine Resources voted Tuesday to reject a proposal to divert fees that the state imposes on the commercial fishing industry into a legal defense fund to help lobstermen fight the new regulations.
The proposal’s sponsor, Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, said the lobster industry is embroiled in multiple legal challenges over the new regulations and needs financial assistance. He said the new fund would be paid for by the industry by diverting more than $3 million a year in annual fees and surcharges that the state imposes on lobstermen.
“It won’t cost the state or the taxpayers a penny from the general fund,” Faulkingham, a lobsterman, said in recent testimony. “This is the industry asking to use some of its own money as a funding source for its necessary legal defense.”
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