NFC Executive Director Bob Mallard Chimes in on Maine's Endangered Species Acts (Friends of Merrymeeting Bay Newsletter)

NFC partnered with Friends of Merrymeeting Bay and others to try to pass a law that would require the state of Maine to list federally listed species at the state-level. Once the law, mandatory listing at the state level was repealed in 1995, not coincidentally at the time Atlantic salmon were heating up.

Unfortunately, the legislative committee for Fish and Wildlife killed the bill in session, and it never made it to the full legislature. Those opposed to the bill were Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Maine Department of Marine Resources, Maine Professional Guides Association, Maine Forest Products Council, and one private citizen.

“Between 1975 and 1994, all federally-listed species were automatically listed at the state level under MESA. Unfortunately, in 1995, the Maine Legislature eliminated the mandatory listing clause, and a year later, changed the designation of Endangered from the Secretary of the Interior of the United States to the Commissioner of DIFW.”