House approves Poliquin’s proposal for swifter exports of Maine seafood

The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday passed a bipartisan bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-ME) that aims to limit mandatory inspections and hasten exports of specific types of Maine seafood.

H.R. 2504 would ensure fair treatment in licensing requirements for the export of certain echinoderms, namely sea urchins and sea cucumbers, a highly perishable product threatened by spoilage due to regulatory red tape around inspections, according to Poliquin’s office.

“For the 650 Mainers who make their living in the industry, diving for, harvesting and processing urchins and cucumbers is hard work, and there is only a limited amount of time each year for these individuals to do it. The government shouldn’t be getting in the way of our Maine job creators with costly and unnecessary regulations,” said Poliquin, who introduced the bill on May 17, 2017 with U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME).

The bill would exempt exporters of sea urchins and sea cucumbers designated as food or taken for recreational purposes from licensing requirements, according to the bill’s summary.

Additionally, the bill would require the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to amend regulations concerning transporting wildlife to clarify that sea urchins and sea cucumbers are fishery products exempt from the export permission requirements under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, according to the summary. This means that exporters would be exempt from both related inspection fees and inspections to ensure shipments of such fishery products don’t contain endangered or threatened species.

H.R. 2504 would revoke the exemption if urchins are declared endangered and would not apply to any sea urchins harvested illegally, according to Poliquin’s office.

Rep. Pingree spoke to the need for quickly getting the product to market. “Maine urchin harvesters and processors work too hard to have their highly perishable product rot in some hot warehouse waiting for inspection,” said Pingree.

The Fish and Wildlife Service inspects sea urchins and sea cucumbers when imported to Maine for processing from other countries, and then inspects again after processing pre-export. She said the “additional inspection on exports is costly and unnecessary.”

Maine U.S. Senators Susan Collins, a Republican, and Angus King, an independent, also in May 2017 introduced a companion bill, S. 1206, that awaits consideration by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.