Maine Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine, are urging Senate leaders to advance legislation that would extend the current pause on new North Atlantic right whale regulations affecting the lobster fishery through 2035.

In a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell, Collins and King expressed their “strong support” for H.R. 9436, the Northeast Lobstermen Protection Act, and called for the legislation to move forward as soon as possible.

The bill, introduced in the House by Reps. Mike Lawler and Jared Golden, recently passed the chamber with bipartisan support. If enacted, it would extend the existing pause on new North Atlantic right whale regulations through 2035.

Collins and King said the extension is necessary to protect Maine’s lobster fishery and the coastal communities that depend on it.

“This pause is necessary to protect Maine’s lobster fishery, which is essential to the state’s economy and coastal communities,” the senators wrote. Citing the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, they said the industry supports an estimated $2 billion in annual economic activity and more than 17,500 jobs.

The senators also pointed to the origins of the current regulatory pause. In their letter, Collins and King said Maine's lobster fishery faced what they characterized as “punitive regulations based on flawed science” in 2022 that would have effectively shut down the fishery.

At the urging of Maine's congressional delegation, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 established a six-year pause on the proposed federal regulations through Dec. 31, 2028.

Collins and King argued that extending that deadline would give ongoing right whale research more time to produce data that could guide future management decisions.

According to the letter, the Maine Department of Marine Resources has used congressionally appropriated funding to establish a right whale research and monitoring program that is now in its third year of data collection. The effort includes aerial, vessel-based, and acoustic whale monitoring.

“This work is ongoing, and extending the pause would allow it to continue and provide scientists and regulators with better data to inform future management decisions,” the senators wrote.

The letter also emphasizes balancing right whale protections with the realities of operating Maine's lobster fishery as federal regulators consider future management measures.

“It is critical that any future regulatory actions appropriately balance protecting North Atlantic right whales with the economic and practical realities facing Maine’s lobster industry,” Collins and King wrote.

The senators closed by asking Cruz and Cantwell to advance H.R. 9436 “as soon as possible.”