Scarcity of required gear is making it extremely difficult for lobstermen to meet the May 1st deadline

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With new federal regulations fast approaching and supply chain challenges delaying access to key materials, U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King, Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden, and Governor Janet Mills are urging the Biden administration to give Maine lobstermen and women more time to comply with updated gear rules. In a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo (PDF), the Maine lawmakers request a delay in the implementation of part of the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) new Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP) rule that requires weak points in lobster lines, highlight the supply chain and availability issues facing lobstermen who are trying to acquire the required gear, and stress that the current deadline puts the lobster industry in what the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy described as an “impossible scenario.”

The letter calls for the implementation date for gear conversion to be postponed two months from May 1, 2022, to July 1, 2022.  According to NMFS’ own data, changing the compliance date to July 1 would result in a potential increase in risk to whales of just 0.9 percent.  On the other hand, failure to delay the rule will cost Maine’s lobstermen $7.3 million, which could pose a significant economic threat to the small businesses that power this industry.

“We are providing an update on the supply chain and availability issues related to the requirements of the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) new Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP) rule and requesting that you reconsider a modest delay in implementation of a component of this rule,” said the Maine Delegation and Governor Mills. “The continued scarcity of required gear is making it increasingly unlikely that fishermen, despite their best efforts and those of suppliers, will be able to achieve timely compliance.”

“In good faith, lobstermen have been seeking out the necessary supplies required to modify their gear by the May 1st deadline, and suppliers have been hard at work trying to meet the demand,” the Maine Delegation and Governor Mills continued. “Once again, we ask you to urge NMFS to extend the compliance date to July 1, 2022 in light of the operational realities of the supply chain and with less than six weeks from the implementation date.”

“This reasonable request is supported by the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, which asserted in a March 3 letter to you that the agency was putting fishermen ‘in an impossible scenario’, and ‘if they are not granted a short delay of the compliance deadline, they may stand to lose significant amounts of revenue, or in some instances their entire business,’” the Maine Delegation and Governor Mills concluded. “We could not agree more with the objective assessment.”

The Maine Delegation and Governor Mills have been steadfastly opposed to undue burdens that would threaten the lobster fishery without meaningfully protecting whales.  Following the release of the final rule in late August 2021, the Maine Delegation and Governor Mills issued a statement in opposition to the rule and highlighting the Maine lobster fishery’s record of repeatedly making significant improvements to their practices and modifications to their gear to protect right whales.  In October 2021, they wrote to Secretary Raimondo to urge her to rescind the rule, and in February 2022 called for a postponement of the rule due to difficulties lobstermen were having obtaining the necessary gear.

The full letter can be read here (PDF) or below.

Dear Secretary Raimondo:

We are providing an update on the supply chain and availability issues related to the requirements of the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) new Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP) rule and requesting that you reconsider a modest delay in implementation of a component of this rule. The continued scarcity of required gear is making it increasingly unlikely that fishermen, despite their best efforts and those of suppliers, will be able to achieve timely compliance.

In good faith, lobstermen have been seeking out the necessary supplies required to modify their gear by the May 1st deadline, and suppliers have been hard at work trying to meet the demand. Fishermen have sought to purchase weak links being manufactured by several gear suppliers in the region. Many have been advised that they can place an order but receive no estimate or certainty on when they might take delivery. Fishermen and regulators alike had expected Brooks Trap Mill to provide high volume production of a manufactured weak link which was critical to meeting Maine’s demand. Unfortunately, and unexpectedly, Brooks has faced challenges with its mold and has no clear timeline for resolution. What is clear is that production will not be beginning as soon as anticipated. Another weak link that had been widely available, made by Plantes Lobster Vents, Inc., was just recalled due to a batch failure that could not be isolated. Unfortunately, this required the removal of all available product from the shelves. A number of fishermen who have already installed these weak links may now have to remove and replace them with an alternative product, if they are able to obtain it.

NMFS has compounded these challenges by refusing, without any scientific basis, to approve the use of knots as weak links despite demonstrable evidence that knots in certain diameter ropes can provide the necessary breaking-strength in vertical lines.

Once again, we ask you to urge NMFS to extend the compliance date to July 1, 2022 in light of the operational realities of the supply chain and with less than six weeks from the implementation date.

This reasonable request is supported by the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, which asserted in a March 3 letter to you that the agency was putting fishermen “in an impossible scenario” and “if they are not granted a short delay of the compliance deadline, they may stand to lose significant amounts of revenue, or in some instances their entire business.” We could not agree more with the objective assessment.

We thank you for your attention to this matter and look forward to your prompt response.

Sincerely,

Susan M. Collins United States Senator Angus S. King, Jr. United States Senator Chellie Pingree Member of Congress Jared Golden Member of Congress Janet T. Mills Governor of Maine