The plan would launch the defense fund to help the lobster industry navigate the new rules, laws and regulations that are designed to protect a declining species of whale. Some members of the committee and the lobster industry balked at the idea, in part because it would redirect fees and surcharges the state currently uses to manage the lobster fishing industry. But Republican Rep. William Faulkingham, a commercial lobsterman himself and the sponsor of the bill to create the legal fund, said the industry will need money to win court challenges against new fishing restrictions. >click to read< 16:53
Tag Archives: Committee on Marine Resources
Maine lawmakers vote against lobstering defense fund idea
A Maine legislative committee has voted against a proposal to create a legal defense fund to help the state’s lobster fishing industry fight new restrictions. The Maine Legislature’s Committee on Marine Resources voted against the idea on Tuesday. The fund would have been designed to help the industry challenge rules and regulations intended to protect the North Atlantic right whale. Republican Rep. William Faulkingham, a commercial lobsterman, proposed the idea. >click to read< 09:40
Lobstermen in Maine ready for debate over license wait list
There are few things in Maine as coveted as a lobster fishing license, and a proposal to bring dozens of people off the state’s license waiting list has fishermen in the state ready for a debate. More than 200 people are waiting in the wings for a lobstering license, which has long been a ticket to the middle class for working coastal Mainers. But a proposal before a state legislative committee would bring new people into the fishery who have been waiting for 10 or more years. >click to read<12:40
