February 2, 2022 — Maine lawmakers are pitching a plan to buoy commercial fishermen whose livelihoods could be impacted by pending new federal regulations.
A proposal heard Tuesday by the Legislature’s Committee on Marine Resources would require the state government to create a new $30 million fund “to mitigate negative financial impacts experienced by individuals and businesses involved in the state’s fixed-gear fishing industry.”
The bill’s primary sponsor, Rep. Holly Stover, D-Boothbay, told the panel that the federal restriction “challenges the viability, sustainability and future of Maine’s fixed gear fishing industry.”
“The long-term sustainability of Maine’s fixed gear fishing industry requires immediate action to mitigate the fiscal losses experienced by those who relied on offshore fishing as part of their livelihood,” Stover said in testimony. “We need to create some level of certainty and relief for the people who work and support our coastal communities.”
The new regulations, which are aimed at protecting critically endangered north Atlantic right whales, 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 during the lucrative winter months.
They will require buoyless or “ropeless” fishing gear – a new and costly technology that brings lobster traps to the surface using wireless signals – in some locations.
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