Maine lawmakers are looking to provide the state's lobster industry with $52 million (€49 million) in funding as the industry grapples with stricter regulations related to protecting endangered right whales.
The funding is part of a provision Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins and others put together as part of the omnibus federal spending bill. The provision would cement NOAA lobster regulations from 2021 into the $1.7 trillion (€1.6-trillion) bill, and prevent further restrictions on the fishery until 2028.
"I've never seen a worse case of regulatory overreach to address a problem and blame an industry that is not at all responsible for a problem," said Collins, who has represented the state for 25 years, in a Zoom meeting Wednesday.
