AUGUSTA, Maine — March 8, 2013 — In addition to a bill that during the next three years would increase the state’s annual lobster marketing budget to $3 million, the Legislature is considering a measure that would raise $1 million upfront for the same purpose.
On Wednesday, the Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee held public hearings on both proposals in Augusta.
One bill would reorganize the state’s Maine Lobster Promotion Council, which critics say has suffered from inadequate funding and poor leadership . That bill, LD 486, would increase licensing surcharges in the state’s lobster industry so that by 2016, the new marketing entity would have $3 million to spend on national and international lobster promotion efforts. Currently, the Maine Lobster Promotion Council has an annual budget of around $350,000, which state and industry officials have said is inadequate.
License surcharges that lobstermen and dealers pay toward marketing efforts range from more than $30 to $250, depending on the kind of license. If LD 486 is approved, the surcharges would stay the same for 2013 but would increase in steps during the next several years. Surcharges for 2014 would range from more than $93 to $1,000, and by 2016 would run from $240 to $2,600, with processors facing the highest extra levies.
Because the surcharges would be phased in, one legislator has proposed a one-time appropriation of $1 million from the state’s General Fund to generically market Maine lobster. That bill, LD 182, would not appropriate any lobster marketing money from the General Fund after the 2013-14 fiscal year.
Committee work sessions on both bills are scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday, March 13, in Room 206 of the Cross Building in the state Capitol complex.
Independent Rep. Jeffrey Evangelos of Friendship, who sponsored LD 182, told the committee that the state has spent tens of millions of dollars touting its dairy and tourism industries. By comparison, he said, it has spent nothing on promoting its signature seafood. The $1 million, he added, would “jump-start” the state’s efforts to ramp up marketing of Maine lobster in the next few years.
Read the full story at Bangor Daily News