# The CLAW Act of 2022: A Tax Break for Lobstermen to Protect Whales

This bill creates a tax credit for lobster fishermen who buy special equipment designed to prevent right whales from getting tangled in fishing gear. Specifically, lobstering businesses can get back 30 percent of what they spend on this safety equipment through their taxes. So if a lobsterman spends $10,000 on approved whale-protection gear, they'd get a $3,000 tax credit to reduce what they owe to the IRS.

The equipment that qualifies includes gear required by federal regulations under the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan and electronic vessel tracking systems required by state fishing commissions. These are real tools that the government already mandates lobstermen use to reduce the risk of right whales—an endangered species—becoming entangled in fishing lines and traps. The bill essentially helps offset the cost of following these existing safety rules.

To use this credit, a lobstering business needs to have either a state commercial lobster license or a federal vessel identification number for their fishing boats. The bill also includes a "direct pay" option, which means some businesses could potentially receive the credit as a direct payment from the government rather than just using it to reduce their tax bill. This would be especially helpful for smaller operations that might not owe enough in taxes to benefit from the full credit. The tax break would apply to spending on this equipment starting in the year after the bill becomes law.

CLAW Act of 2022

Moulton, Seth

Conserving Lobstering And Whales Act of 2022 or the CLAW Act of 2022 This bill allows an eligible lobstering business a new tax credit for 30% of the cost of any adaptive gear required to prevent the entanglement of right whales.