Jared Golden: Data Implementation Risks for Maine Lobstermen

Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) Impact

• ⚠️ The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) significantly impacts the livelihoods of thousands of Maine lobstermen and fishermen.
• 🎣 Concerns exist that changes to the MMPA could lead to the shutdown of entire fisheries and the communities they support.

Data-Driven Regulations vs. Precautionary Principle

• 📊 Federal regulations should not destroy livelihoods based on assumptions not grounded in sound data.
• ⚖️ A previous regulatory process, based on biased modeling and hypothetical threats to right whales, nearly shut down Maine's lobster industry.
• 🚫 The precautionary principle, which allows agencies to regulate based on worst-case scenarios, is criticized as being wrongly applied by NMFS.
• 💡 Court rulings have indicated that agencies should base decisions on the best available data, not speculative or pessimistic values.

Right Whale Research and Timeline Concerns

• 🔬 A moratorium until 2028 was enacted to support additional right whale research, but more time is needed to incorporate this data.
• 📉 Main lobstermen are not considered an existential threat to North Atlantic right whales, with only one contested instance of gear attribution to a right whale death.
• 🗓️ The Atlantic large whale take reduction team's first meeting on new regulations is not until 2026, leaving insufficient time for lobstermen to comply before the 2028 moratorium expires.
• 💰 Funding provided for data collection may be rendered useless if there isn't adequate time to implement findings.

Industry Collaboration and Best Practices

• ✅ Maine lobstermen have a proven track record in ocean resource conservation and mitigating whale entanglement risks, including adopting weak links and gear marking.
• 🤝 There is a need for NMFS and fishermen to work together, ensuring conservation goals are met while supporting industry viability.
• 🎯 The goal is to achieve win-win situations that balance conservation with economic realities.