August 31, 2021 — Maine’s congressional delegation is urging the federal government not to approve new rules that would negatively impact the state’s commercial fishing industry as they finalize protections for endangered whales.
In a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the lawmakers wrote that they have a number of concerns about the National Marine Fisheries Service’s proposed regulations and the plan’s “ability to meaningfully protect whales and its impact on those who depend on fishing, especially lobstering, for their livelihoods.”
The lawmakers, which included Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, asked regulators to illuminate several “hasty, late-breaking changes” to the final whale protection rules.