President Donald Trump came out in support of U.S. Rep. Jared Golden’s bill to extend a pause on federal regulations intended to protect endangered whales, bolstering a top priority for Maine lobstermen.
The White House issued a Friday letter saying the Republican president would sign the measure if Congress sent it to his desk. Golden’s measure would extend the six-year pause that was negotiated as part of a 2022 spending bill for another seven years into 2035.
It’s another example of Trump focusing on Maine’s legacy fishery, building on actions he took when he was running for a second term in 2020. The politics of this move were made easier when Golden, a Democrat from Maine’s battleground 2nd District, decided in November to drop out of his 2026 race for a fifth term.
“The need to protect Maine’s iconic lobster industry knows no party,” Golden said in a statement. “I’m grateful for [Trump’s] support for Maine’s lobstermen and hopeful that my colleagues in the House will join me in quickly passing this bill into law.”
Trump’s support for the measure could lead Republicans to move it up on their priority list. However, niche fishery bills often languish due to limited floor time in Congress. This standalone bill could also fail to get the 60 votes required to pass legislation in the Senate, meaning it may have to be baked into a sweeping spending proposal to become law.
Such an extended pause would effectively neuter a four-year-old court ruling saying limits on the fishery must stand to comply with the Endangered Species Act. Lobstermen have contended that those rules pose a threat to the fishery, while conservationists squared off with top Democrats who allowed the pause to take effect under then-President Joe Biden.
During the debate around the last pause, Maine lobstermen noted there was no evidence any endangered whale had ever died in the Gulf of Maine due to fishing gear entanglements. In 2024, the federal government confirmed the first such death of a whale that washed up in Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
It hasn’t changed the posture of Maine fishermen and the state’s congressional delegation, who say the economic harm of fishing limits outweighs the danger to the species. The 2022 spending bill gave the Maine Department of Marine Resources more than $17 million to study the presence and behavior of whales. A regional group got another $30 million this year.
Fishing groups here hailed Trump’s support for Golden’s measure. The Maine Lobstermen’s Association said it would give regulators enough time to study the issue, noting a short-term increase in the region’s whale population.
“The MLA will continue fighting to stop over-regulation of Maine’s lobster fishery and ensure that any future whale protections also preserve our lobstering heritage,” the group said in a statement.
The move also got support from former Gov. Paul LePage, the Republican who has become the frontrunner in the race to succeed Golden. Four people are running in a primary for the Democratic nomination.
“This is great news for our lobster industry, and it’s fantastic to see a bipartisan effort to get it done,” he said in a statement.