Lawmakers Criticize EU Decision to Consider North American Lobster Ban
The four members of the Maine congressional delegation on Sept. 6 said an EU decision to broadly review designating U.S. lobster as an invasive species and to consider banning live lobster imports from North America is inconsistent with World Trade Organization rule and could have “devastating effects” on the U.S. lobster industry (here). According to a CBS News article (here), EU’s Scientific Forum on Invasive Alien Species decided it has enough information to move forward with an examination of whether North American lobsters should be put on its invasive species list, after Sweden in December proposed to prohibit the imports. The EU could issue a final decision as early as this upcoming spring, according to the article. “There is no strong scientific evidence to justify a ban on the import of live lobsters into the entire 28-country European Union, as Sweden wrongly proposes,” the lawmakers said. “We will continue to support Maine’s lobster industry by seeing that the science and economic impacts are made clear.”
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The lawmakers -- Republican Sen. Susan Collins, independent Sen. Angus King, Republican Rep. Bruce Poliquin, and Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree -- earlier this year wrote a letter to the State Department, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, urging the agencies to press the EU to counteract Sweden’s request (see 1603290015). Maine’s top export to the EU is live lobster, and $196 million worth of lobster is exported from the state to Europe every year.