I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9150 
To provide that no Federal funds shall be appropriated, awarded, or granted 
to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 7, 2022 
Mr. GOLDEN (for himself and Ms. PINGREE) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To provide that no Federal funds shall be appropriated, 
awarded, or granted to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Red Listing Monterey 
Bay Aquarium Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Lobstering has served as an economic en-
gine and family tradition in Maine and the other 
New England States for centuries. 
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an estimated 27,000 miles of floating line with 
whale-safe sinking lines. 
(E) In 2015, Maine lobstermen adjusted 
their gear in certain areas to a newly required 
minimum number of traps per buoy, reducing 
the amount of vertical rope present in the water 
by an additional 3,000 miles. 
(F) In 2022, lobstermen converted their 
gear once again, including more ‘‘weak links’’, 
more ‘‘weak rope’’ and more traps per buoy to 
further reduce vertical line in the water column, 
in addition to removing nearly 1,000 miles of 
gear from prime fishing grounds. 
(5) These measures are the reason why there 
has never been a serious injury or death of the en-
dangered North Atlantic right whale attributed to 
the Maine lobster fishery and there has not been a 
known right whale entanglement with Maine lobster 
gear since 2004. 
(6) According to the National Oceanic and At-
mospheric Administration, the majority of known 
right whale deaths since 2017 have been attributed 
to vessel strikes in Canada and of the 33 right whale 
mortalities occurring between 2017 and 2020, 24 of 
those whales were confirmed to be attributed to en-
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tanglements in Canadian fishing gear and vessel 
strikes in Canadian waters. 
(7) Despite these facts, Monterey Bay Aquar-
ium’s Seafood Watch program added the American 
lobster fishery to a ‘‘red list’’ of seafood that con-
sumers should avoid due to the risk that the fishery 
poses to right whales. 
(8) This red list designation for American lob-
ster by Seafood Watch is speculative and conjecture, 
not supported by the data or the science as they 
state in their report, ‘‘until there is more specific in-
formation available regarding which fisheries are re-
sponsible for the unattributed entanglements, Sea-
food Watch considers that all relevant fisheries that 
may overlap with North Atlantic right whales pose 
risks’’. 
(9) In their own press release announcing the 
red listing for American lobster, Seafood Watch 
states, ‘‘More than 90% of entanglements cannot be 
linked to a specific gear type, and only 12% of en-
tanglements can be linked to a specific location.’’. 
(10) Monterey Bay Aquarium ignores the ef-
forts by the lobster industry to reduce their risk to 
right whales for the past 150 years, admitting in 
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their report that ‘‘effects on mitigation of whale en-
tanglement have yet to be determined’’. 
(11) This new, unsubstantiated designation has 
a real world impact; with the lobster industry al-
ready facing challenges, the inaccurate designation 
will hurt the thousands of hardworking lobstermen, 
their families, and businesses across Maine and has 
already prompted seafood retailers such as Blue 
Apron and HelloFresh to pull lobster from their 
menus. 
(12) Monterey Bay’s Seafood Watch Program 
has produced recommendations that rely on pseudo-
scientific claims and false assumptions that ignore 
scientific principles that should underpin any legiti-
mate ratings and, by ignoring the facts, Seafood 
Watch is not encouraging safe fishing, but rather 
damaging the reputation of its certification process 
by smearing an entire industry and misleading con-
sumers. 
(13) Monterey Bay Aquarium receives millions 
of Federal taxpayer dollars for scientific research 
and to promote ocean conservation and seafood sus-
tainability, yet the Monterey Bay Aquarium has irre-
sponsibly ignored scientific facts and the lobster 
fishery’s history of sustainability. 
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SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL FUNDING FOR THE 
MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM. 
No Federal funds shall be appropriated, awarded, or 
granted to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. 
Æ 
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