U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) today applauded the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation’s approval of S. 859, the Marine Mammal Assistance Amendments Act of 2009, bipartisan legislation to expand the John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program to include funding for aiding entangled marine mammals as well as those that have been stranded.
"Protection of marine mammals and endangered species is integral to preserving our ocean environment, and this bill represents a step forward in our nation’s ability to achieve a balance between sustaining the economic engine of our fisheries and the requisite safeguarding of our protected resources," said Senator Snowe, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard.
Established in 2000, the Prescott grant program aims to curb the costs affiliated with responding to events of marine mammal strandings. S. 859 will expand the program to assist in rescue and survival situations in which marine mammal species, including the critically endangered north Atlantic right whale, become entangled in fishing gear. Senator Snowe said enactment of the measure will be vital to lobstermen in Maine, who have had to adjust to NFMS regulations that limit the interactions of large whales and fishing gear. Because of these new regulations, lobstermen have estimated that they will have to spend as much as $10,000 to $15,000 annually to replace their fishing gear to reduce the chance of additional entanglements.