All four members of the Maine delegation and Governor Janet T. Mills, the first woman governor of Maine, wrote to the Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C. today seeking a “modest delay in implementation of a component” of the new Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan that requires Maine lobstermen to use breakable lines in their traps by May 1, 2022.  In the letter, the Maine politicans requested that the deadline be extended to July 1, 2022.

The succient letter states, meeting the May 1st deadline has become impossible to achieve because of supply chain and availability issues associated with the production of the breakable line required to meet the Plan.  In other words, production will not be starting as soon as anticipated, making the May 1st deadline unachievable.

Additionally, challenging to Maine lobstermen, the letter noted that the government hs refused, “without any scientific basis, to approve the use of knots as weak links” despite evidence that some knots “can provide the necessary breaking-strength in vertical lines.”

The letter, addressed to the Honorable Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce,  concludes with a request for a prompt response to this reasonable request.

For more background information on the issue, please visit post herein dated March 23, 2022, titled “Maine’s Tourism Economy Threatened by Federal Regulations Against Lobstering.”