The federal government is considering requiring all Maine lobstermen to report their harvests after each outing, a move that may face stiff opposition from an industry worried about the cost.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration requested comment on the proposal in a notice posted to the Federal Register on Wednesday. Maine is the only state that doesn’t require all lobstermen to report catch-level information after each haul, and the policy change is expected to receive backlash from its powerful fishery lobby.
“We’re going to get a lot of probably negative comments on this because it’s going to be a burden for people,” said Peter Burns, a lobster policy analyst with NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office. “The lobster industry is very strong. For the longest time, they wanted to protect their fishing information, their proprietary business information.”
The Maine Lobstermen’s Association couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Lobsters accounted for 44 percent of Maine’s total commercial catches in 2017, the largest portion of the 254 million pounds of fish netted, and brought in nearly $434 million. The total lobster supply chain adds as much as $1 billion to Maine’s economy each year, according to a 2016 study by the Maine Lobster Dealers’ Association. The administration says only 10 percent of the state’s lobstermen currently report trip-level data.
The Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has authority over federal waters and works in partnership with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which oversees state waters. That organization includes representatives from several states like Maine and Maryland.
The commission often passes initial regulatory changes impacting those who hold state-level permits, and the administration then replicates the policy on a federal level. It passed a rule earlier this year requiring all lobster fisheries to begin reporting trip-level catches within the next five years.
NOAA’s current regulatory framework requires only 60 percent of federal permit holders to report trip-level data. Should the rule be passed — which the agency may do more quickly by attaching it to another provision under consideration — all lobstermen across every state operating with a federal permit would need to report such information.
“By us jumping out ahead on the time frame, we’re going to take the heat, I guess, because we’re going to be the first ones to make a substantial number of Maine fishermen report to us before they fall under the state reporting requirement in five years,” Burns said.
The switch has been contemplated previously, but supporters say that reporting trip-level data is now much easier with advances in technology. The data could help in a variety of ways, including allowing both the federal government and the states to better study the environmental impacts of fishing.
