U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins today announced that they have introduced a Senate resolution that would call for bilateral discussions between U.S. and Canadian officials to negotiate agreements to better ensure the protection of large Atlantic whales as they migrate up and down the Eastern Seaboard. The discussions would help create unified protection standards, including regulations regarding fishing and lobster gear. The resolution was also co-sponsored by U.S. Senator John Sununu (R-NH).
“This is an extremely important issue for Maine’s lobster and fishing industries and our state’s overall economy,” noted Senators Snowe and Collins in a joint statement. “In our effort to protect Atlantic whale populations, we must do all we can to ensure the coordination of domestic and international regulations, not only for the safety of whales, but also to ensure that one nation's fishermen do not receive an unfair competitive advantage as a result of whale conservation efforts.”
On October 1, 2007 the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued a final rule for amending the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP), which -- since first implemented in 1999 -- has required U.S. fishermen to modify their fishing gear and undertake other measures to reduce the risk of entangling whales. The new final rule contains a number of additional regulations for fixed-gear fisheries along the Atlantic Seaboard, many of which will impose significant economic impacts on key fisheries. For example, the new gear requirements for the sustainably-managed Maine lobster industry will result in millions of dollars in ongoing gear replacement costs. Canadian lobstermen and fishermen who routinely fish in waters directly adjacent to their U.S. counterparts are not required to employ “whale-safe” fishing gear. NMFS has also proposed regulations on the shipping industry aimed at reducing the occurrence of ships striking large whales, but release of those regulations has been delayed for over a year by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.
This effort, being led by Senators Snowe and Collins, would allow the U.S. and Canada to develop a more comprehensive international strategy that would improve the likelihood of reducing incidents of whale gear entanglements and ship strikes and allow for a more level playing field between the two countries’ fishing and shipping industries by more equitably distributing the costs and benefits of whale protection regulations.