Saving Seafood

Unifying Efforts: Bipartisan Legislators Introduce Bill Ensuring Protection and Welfare of Commercial Fishermen

December 14, 2023 — U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Dan Sullivan (R-AL), and Edward Markey (D-MA) led a bipartisan group of Senators introducing the Fishing Industry Safety, Health, and Wellness Improvement (FISH Wellness) Act. This legislation will build upon the success of the Commercial Fishing Occupational Safety Research & Training Program to further address the range of occupational safety and health risks that fishermen face, which include worker fatigue and substance use disorder. Authorized funding for the program will increase, and research and training grants will become more accessible by eliminating match requirements.

At this year’s Pacific Marine Expo, a group of commercial fishing industry members came together to discuss strategies for addressing commercial fishermen’s mental health. Generations of fishermen have indirectly dealt with mental health challenges, and the new generation wants to see these issues explored in a much more direct manner.

“Providing our next generation of fishermen and women with the mental health and substance abuse care that they need is vital to the success of our industry,” said Andrea Tomlinson, founder and executive director of New England Young Fishermen’s Alliance. “Commercial fishing is the second most dangerous job in the US after logging, and these workers require extra mental and behavioral health support due to the strenuous and challenging conditions of this valuable trade.”

Opening the conversations within the commercial fishing community can weigh heavy, but also normalize creating a solid support system with further support from U.S. Senators with the FISH Wellness Act. In addition to the work on this act, Senator Collins has worked tirelessly on the Working Waterfront Preservation Act to help preserve access for the nation’s fishermen and maritime workings to the waterfronts in coastal communities. Collins has helped keep the fishing industry alive since holding her seat in 1997.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Senators Collins and Reed Introduce Bill to Preserve Vital Working Waterfronts

November 23, 2023 — On November 13, Senators Susan Collins and Jack Reed (D-RI) introduced the Working Waterfront Preservation Act. The bipartisan bill would help preserve access for the nation’s fishermen and maritime workers to the waterfronts in coastal communities, supporting the commercial fishing, aquaculture, boatbuilding, and for-hire recreational fishing industries that are vital to culture, heritage, and economies of coastal towns and cities.

Senator Collins has held her seat since 1997 and is Maine’s longest-serving senator. She has advocated and secured funding for numerous fisheries in the state for over two decades. She has worked on many acts with Maine’s Senator King, who has also actively supported Maine fisheries with bipartisan legislation such as the Fishing Industry Credit Enhancement Act. Senators King and Collins have worked to help keep the fishing industry alive from coast to coast.

“The hardworking men and women of Maine’s maritime industries continue to lose access to the waterfronts that sustain them. Recent demand for coastal property has only intensified the problem in Maine and nationwide,” said Senator Collins in the news release.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Maine senator advocates grant program for working waterfronts

November 6, 2023 — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has introduced legislation that would create a new grant program that would help the commercial fishing sector gain or preserve access to “working waterfront” areas.

“In Maine, our fisheries are one of our state’s most important resources and are vital to our economy,” Collins said in remarks on the Senate floor. “A report of Maine’s seafood sector as a whole, which included downstream contributors, found that in 2019, the sector contributed more than USD 3.2 billion [EUR 3 billion] to Maine’s economy. Although the fishing industry is a significant economic contributor both nationwide and in Maine, it is losing access to the working waterfronts that are vital to the industry’s survival.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MAINE: Multi-million dollar bill to support lobster industry advances

July 17, 2023 — Senator Susan Collins has announced she has advanced more than $35 million in an appropriations bill for the next fiscal year to support Maine’s lobster industry.

The bill was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee and still needs the approval of Congress.

$30 million would go to the Atlantic Marine States Fisheries Commission for Right Whale related research and monitoring.

Read the full article at WABI

Senator Collins Questions Commerce Secretary about Incomplete Surveys in the Gulf of Maine

Click HERE to watch Senator Collins’ exchange with Secretary Gina Raimondo. Click HERE to download.

May 2, 2023 — The following was released by the office of Senator Susan Collins:

At a hearing to review the fiscal year 2024 budget request for the United States Department of Commerce, U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Vice Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, questioned Secretary Gina Raimondo on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) broken survey vessel, which is leading to incomplete survey work for the Gulf of Maine. Specifically, Senator Collins emphasized the deep knowledge of Maine’s fishermen and encouraged NOAA to work with them to better survey the Gulf of Maine, which will help inform more accurate quotas.

At the hearing, Senator Collins:

Last week, I was notified that the start of the Northeast Spring Bottom Trawl Survey will be delayed for the third time, because NOAA’s survey vessel, the Henry B. Bigelow, is not functioning properly. And I have a feeling this affects others of my colleagues. So, we still don’t know when this vessel will be functional. But, according to NOAA’s staff, it can only be used for this survey through May 26. But it may not be fixed in time. So, that means, according to NOAA, that NOAA will have to decrease the survey coverage; and that only 70% of the planned coverage area, in southern New England, Georges Bank and the Bank of Maine, will be surveyed.

I recently met with a group of Maine fishermen who shared their great frustration about incomplete surveys. Because if you don’t have accurate surveys, you can’t determine the quota. If you don’t know how many fish are out there, you can’t decide, accurately, what the quota is. And the fishermen are on the water every day. They have the best information about the state of the stock, and they’re not involved in the surveys. So, I would ask you, if your vessel is going to be out of commission, and as I said, this is the third time this has happened, I would ask you to consider collaborating with the fishermen, who work in the Gulf of Maine and in these other areas, on better data collection methods. They’re willing to help. And they do know where the fish are; that’s where they go. I hope you will consider that, because, otherwise, we’re going to end up with quotas that don’t reflect the state of the stock. 

Secretary Raimondo:

I will look into this. I’ve taken notes. You’re exactly right, about the surveys, how vital they are. We had a lot of problems, in COVID, staying on top of the surveys on time. We’re mostly caught up. I regret that we’re not caught up in Maine. So, let me look into it and get back to you.

If we’re allowed to collaborate in the way you suggest, with the fishermen, I think it’s a smart idea. But let me get into the details.

Maine’s fisheries and agricultural delegation meets with buyers in Cuba

June 13, 2022 — Representatives of Maine’s fisheries, apples, seed potatoes and vegetable seeds traveled to explore export opportunities in Cuba. After a first visit in May, an expanded delegation will return in October.

Those delegates from Maine agricultural growers and fisheries met with buyers and officials from the Cuba Ministry of Agriculture (MINAG) to develop a pipeline of Maine agricultural products for export to Cuba.

The delegation was developed by Doyle Marchant, president of Cedar Spring Agricultural Co., at the direct invitation of the Cuba Ministry of Agriculture (MINAG).

“It was important for Maine growers and producers to act on this unique invitation for Maine to build a reliable source of products and begin a normalization of relations between the two countries,” said Marchant. “The primary currency in Cuba is not money but building trust that can benefit both Maine and Cuba.”

While in Havana, letters of support for the delegation from Maine lawmakers Sen. Susan Collins, Rep. Chellie Pingree, and Rep. Jared Golden were presented to Sr. Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, vice minister of Ministry of Foreign Relations for the Republic of Cuba. The meetings also coincided with an important announcement by the Biden administration to lift certain restrictions on Cuba.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Maine’s struggling Atlantic herring fishery gets boost from NOAA disaster assistance

May 9, 2022 — NOAA Fisheries has awarded Maine $7,191,787 to provide disaster assistance for the state’s struggling Atlantic herring fishery. NOAA Fisheries will work with the Maine Department of Marine Resources to administer these funds.

“The drastic reduction in Atlantic herring quotas has caused significant losses in primary income and threatened job security for many in the herring industry,” said Senator [Susan] Collins, in a news release. “Given the unstable status of our Atlantic herring fishery, and its role in supporting Maine’s iconic lobster industry, I advocated for the State of Maine’s commercial fishery failure declaration request.  This financial assistance provided through the designation is crucial to the survival of Maine’s Atlantic herring fishery.”

Read the full story at the Penbay Pilot

NOAA agrees to ‘graduated enforcement’ of new lobster gear rules

April 20, 2022 — Federal officials are giving Maine lobster fisheries more time to purchase new, environmentally friendly fishing gear, after hearing from Gov. Janet Mills and Maine’s congressional delegation.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Wednesday it would still require lobstermen and women to upgrade their gear, but would “implement a graduated enforcement effort” for those who can show they are genuinely trying to meet the May 1 deadline.

The new requirements call for gear with weaker rope lines, which are less likely to entangle whales. Mills, together with U.S. Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins and U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden, petitioned NOAA to recognize that supply chain delays are making it difficult for Maine’s lobster fishing fleets to meet the deadline.

Read the full story at Spectrum News

Maine’s leaders seek delay on whale protection rules

April 1, 2022 — A last-ditched request to delay new federal whale protection rules is being made by Gov. Janet Mills and members of the state’s congressional delegation, citing fears the state’s commercial lobstermen won’t be able to comply.

In a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Riamondo, Mills and other officials urge federal fisheries regulators to extend the May 1 deadline to comply with the new regulations, which are aimed at protecting critically endangered north Atlantic right whales by setting a seasonal closure and requiring modifications to gear. They are requesting a July 1 deadline.

Mills, who penned the letter with Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and other congressional lawmakers, said the state’s commercial fishing industry is working “in good faith” to comply with the new rules but are facing supply chain issues and other complications with less than six weeks to go until implementation of the new rules.

Read the full story at The Center Square

MAINE: $17 million for lobster industry included in bill

March 17, 2022 — A sum of $17,065,000 to support Maine’s lobster industry was included in the Fiscal Year 2022 Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS) Appropriations bill, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden announced March 11. Collins is a senior member of the Appropriations Committee and a member of the CJS Appropriations Subcommittee. Pingree is a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee and chairs the Interior and Environment Subcommittee.

The omnibus funding package passed the House and the Senate before heading to the President’s desk.

“NOAA’s own data show that the Maine fishery has never been linked to a right whale death, and the record clearly demonstrates that ship strikes and Canadian fishing activities are major contributors to right whale mortalities,” said Sens. Collins and King and Reps. Pingree and Golden in a joint statement. “Maine lobstermen and women have always been good stewards of the environment and have taken numerous actions to protect right whales when the science has warranted it. That’s why it is extremely frustrating that they have been targeted by the deeply flawed and unfair Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Rule.

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American