This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: July 11, 2008 - The Lobster Institute at the University of Maine makes no apology for benefiting from a congressional “earmark” that has become an issue in Missouri’s Republican primary governorship contest. In fact, the institute says that it helps lobster marketers and consumers around the country.
Executive Director Robert G. Bayer confirms that the institute is getting $180,000 through a provision inserted in a bill enacted into law earlier this year. He says the money will enable a major expansion of an existing project on lobster health.
Dr. Bayer recalls that Fox News in Chicago recently looked into an Illinois complaint that questioned why federal taxpayer money should be supporting a Maine organization. He says Fox News reported that a Chicago mail order house, LobsterGram (“You don’t have to go to Maine. Ocean fresh from shore to door.”) said it depended on the Maine institute for information about any concerns about the health of the lobsters it sends all over the country.
The institute, the only organization of its kind, has served the lobster industry from Long Island Sound to Newfoundland since its founding in 1987 by Maine’s lobster organizations and the University of Maine at Orono. Its mission is “to sustain both the lobster resource and a viable lobster fishery through conservation, outreach, research and education.”
Dr. Bayer says he has had no contact with U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof R.-Mo., whom Missouri State Treasurer Sarah Steelman criticizes for approving earmarks including the grant for the Lobster Institute. They are rivals in the Aug. 5 primary election for the Republican nomination for governor.
Richard Dudman, former Washington Bureau chief for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, lives in Maine.