Letter to Chairman Inouye, Ranking Member Stevens, Senator Cantwell, and Senator Snowe

Letter

Dear Chairman Inouye, Ranking Member Stevens, Senator Cantwell, and Senator Snowe:

I am writing to ask that you hold public hearings at either the full or subcommittee level on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) amendments to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP) that were filed on October 1, 2007. While I support efforts to protect endangered whales, I am concerned that these regulations fail to account sufficiently for the tremendous economic burden facing Maine's lobster industry.

With the livelihood of some of Maine's fishing communities at stake, it is imperative the science behind the regulations accurately determines whether such regulations effectively achieve their intended purpose. Much more analysis is needed to assess the migration patterns and foraging habits of the North Atlantic right whale. Without additional data, Maine's lobster industry faces a difficult future without any assurance that their sacrifice has served to protect right whales.

The broad-based gear modifications require that lobstermen in non-exempt areas, which includes a significant portion of Maine's coast, begin using sinking groundline by October 1, 2008. In developing its Final Environmental Impact Statement, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) moved Maine's exemption line further offshore in recognition of the fact that sinking groundline is not a viable alternative to floating groundline over rocky underwater habitat. The urgent and consistent message from Maine's lobstermen is that the use of sinking groundline, which easily breaks down over rocky portions of the ocean floor, presents serious safety risks to lobstermen hauling their traps and an impossible economic situation for lobstermen who will need to replace their gear with much greater frequency.

While NMFS estimates the cost to comply with the gear modifications is approximately $14 million annually, I am concerned that the adverse economic impact could be far more extensive. The Government Accountability Office conducted a report to determine the extent to which NMFS assessed the costs to the fishing industry in developing revisions to ALWTRP. The report, released in July, concluded that NMFS's economic assessment did not reflect significant uncertainties that remain in order to better understand the impact gear modifications will have on fishing communities.

I believe that further analysis of the regulatory cost of this rule is required and that reasonable alternatives should be considered that would achieve the goal of protecting the right whale while reducing the burden on our lobstermen. I would, therefore, encourage you to fully investigate this issue by holding oversight hearings in order to examine fully the consequences of this rule.

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