Press Releases

Congresswoman Pingree tells head of Fish and Wildlife Service she is "determined to solve problem"
 
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree pressed the head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFW) today to ease inspections for urchins and sea cucumbers processed in Maine and exported to Asia.  Pingree is on the Appropriations Committee and at a hearing on the USFW budget today, she told Director Dan Ashe that unnecessary inspections of urchins waiting for export at New York area airports can damage the highly perishable product.
 
"As you know I'm very concerned with the inspection requirements for urchins that are processed in my state and exported to Asia…They are highly perishable and the inspection process is very difficult for urchin dealers.  We first started talking about this in December of 2014…We haven't completely worked out a solution yet but I'm optimistic we are making progress and I am determined to solve this problem once and for all," Pingree said. 

Ashe responded to Pingree saying, "I think we're close to a solution and I think we can get there."
 
Pingree has introduced a bill to force federal officials to grant an exemption from inspections for urchins and sea cucumbers exported from the United States.  The bill is cosponsored by Congressman Bruce Poliquin.
 
Pingree was contacted by Maine urchin dealers in late 2014 after federal officials started requiring inspections of urchins entering and leaving the United States.  Currently processors buy urchins harvested in Maine and Canada and process them in Maine.  Urchins from Canada are inspected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when coming into the state.  After they are processed, all urchins—regardless of where they were caught—are again inspected before being exported.  Almost all processed urchins are sold to markets in Asia.
 
Since the 1980s, shellfish have been exempted from these export inspections and Pingree says urchins and sea cucumbers should enjoy that same exemption.  Technically, urchins are echinoderms instead of shellfish, but only recently did federal officials start requiring U.S. Fish and Wildlife inspections.