WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sen. Susan Collins has called for $5 million in new funding for fishery research, double the amount listed by the Obama administration its budget proposal.
The funding would be included in the Interjurisdictional Fisheries Grants program. Maine fishery stakeholders are excited about the prospect of the grant funds, which would go towards studying important species in Gulf of Maine fisheries, including lobster, shrimp and herring.
If the budget passes with funding for the grant program, it would be the first time since 2011 that such research has been funded at the federal level with the grants. Collins is a member of the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources and other state fishery stakeholders have traveled to Washington in recent weeks to lobby Maine’s congressional delegation for restoring the funding.
The last time the grant program had been funded in 2011, it was for $1.65 million, said Meredith Mendelson, DMR deputy commissioner. That means that even the $2.5 million proposed by the Obama budget would be an increase. The push by Maine’s congressional delegation for $5 million in funding is significant, but the fact that money is earmarked at all is also important, Mendelson said.
“It would be really fantastic. We’re extremely grateful,” she said.
In the past two years, the state has had to get creative to fund monitoring programs for some of its most important fisheries. DMR has had to shift funds from other accounts to keep even the most basic monitoring programs afloat.
“This is really core funding for baseline monitoring,” Mendelson said.
Such funding is needed now more than ever, advocates say, as Gulf of Maine fishermen and lobstermen must deal with wild swings in the population of important fish like cod. Such swings leave many fishermen out of a job and eager to be hired on for monitoring programs, said Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association. The swings in population also underscore the need for more timely assessments of fish populations, he said.
“We’re working off a science that’s several years old most of the time and we’re constantly behind on our stock assessments,” Martens said.
Any funding toward the interjurisdictional grants in the New England region would benefit Maine the most, said Nick Battista, marine programs director of the Island Institute. The grant money is divided up based on the size of a state’s fishery, and Maine’s lobster industry dwarfs lobstering activity in other states.
“A couple million dollars would mean a lot to Maine,” Battista said.
Currently, the federal budget for the coming fiscal year is really a series of competing proposals and the two sides of the aisle are far apart on the budget’s final shape. Still, Battista remains optimistic that Collins can lend weight to an increased boost in funding for the grants program.
“If she is saying this is important and is willing to fight for it, then it’s significantly more likely to happen,” Battista.