A major spending bill that passed the House today contains a provision introduced by Representatives Chellie Pingree and Bruce Poliquin to exempt urchins imported to or exported from the United States from mandatory inspections by federal wildlife officials, providing important relief for an industry of more than 650 Maine workers.
"Urchin dealers in Maine were just losing too much product when it waited in a warehouse for these inspections," Pingree said. "Lobsters and other highly perishable shellfish aren't subject to these inspections and neither should urchins. This has been a long process but I think we're finally close to the point where urchin dealers are going to get the protection they deserve."
“This is all about jobs,” said Poliquin. “The sea urchin harvesting industry directly employs more than 650 hardworking Mainers and is a critical component to our State’s economy. Today, we are pushing one step closer to making an important revision in the law, removing an unnecessary federal regulation and providing critical relief for one of Maine’s staple trades.”
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.
Pingree and Poliquin introduced a proposal that puts an end to repetitive, mandatory inspections of urchins and sea cucumbers being imported to and exported from the country. If illegal trafficking involving either product is found to be occurring anywhere in the country, inspections of urchins and sea cucumbers will resume in that area.
During Appropriations Committee action on the major spending bill that funds the Department of the Interior, the language from Pingree and Poliquin's proposal was inserted. Pingree, a member of the Appropriations Committee, pushed leading Democrats and Republicans on the committee to include the proposal. Poliquin also encouraged the committee to include this important language.
The spending bill, H.R. 5538, passed the House today. The Senate has yet to take up the bill.
