[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 17027-17028]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  COMMENDING MAINE FLOAT-ROPE COMPANY

 Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, today I recognize the contributions 
of a tremendously innovative small business from my home State of 
Maine--the Maine Float-Rope Company--that has taken on the mission of 
helping lobstermen dispose of their old, unusable rope by transforming 
it into charming gifts.
  When Maine lobstermen went to set their traps this spring, they first 
had to replace the rope they used to connect one lobster trap to 
another as the result of a new regulation banning the use of 
traditional floating rope. It requires lobster pots to be linked with 
sink-rope, the goal being to reduce the risk of entangling whales. 
Regrettably, Maine's lobstermen face a financial burden as the new 
sink-rope can cost twice as much as float-rope and is far more 
expensive to maintain. Additionally, the new regulation threatened to 
result in hundreds of thousands of pounds of unusable rope clogging 
local landfills.
  Seeking to keep the old rope out of landfills, Penny Johnston, a 
sales and marketing specialist, established the Waldoboro-based Maine 
Float-Rope Company in April of this year. Her goal was to ramp up sale 
of the resourceful doormats that a local company, Custom Cordage, began 
creating last summer out of retired float-rope. Specifically, her 
company sells the attractive and durable Down East Doormats that are 
constructed using the colorful float-rope that is uniquely weathered by 
seasons of use and exposure to salt water. Previously, the repurchased 
float-rope was melted and reformed as cheap plastic pots for plants. 
Now, the float-rope is beginning to grace the front doors of houses 
across the country in the form of high-quality, handwoven doormats. In 
fact, since Ms.

[[Page 17028]]

Johnston's involvement, sales have skyrocketed, with Maine Float-Rope 
selling over a thousand mats per month!
  In addition, Maine Float-Rope donates a percentage of its profits to 
organizations that support the vitality of lobstermen, the protection 
of North Atlantic right whales, and a host of groups that advocate for 
environmentally sound practices. An exceptional product, the vivid Down 
East Doormat was recently acknowledged as the ``Best New Product'' at 
this year's New England Products Trade Show in Portland.
  Ms. Johnston, who calls herself a ``green entrepreneur,'' has a 
successful record of starting businesses based on creative uses of old 
and recycled material. Prior to founding the Maine Float-Rope Company, 
Ms. Johnston started The Maine Barn Furniture Company, which took wood 
from old, dilapidated barns and used it to make handsome tables. She 
also started Historic Hardscapes, a unique business that reclaims and 
reuses old hand-cut granite from abandoned farmlands and quarries 
across the State. Down East Doormats are one more example of how Ms. 
Johnston finds innovative ways to turn what others would simply discard 
into high-quality products.
  Maine's lobster industry, comprised of more than 7,000 owner-operated 
small businesses, is a pillar of Maine's fishing industry and of our 
State's economy. Thanks to the actions of Ms. Johnston, lobstermen can 
more effectively offset the cost of upgrading to sink-rope, and the old 
float-rope can be kept out of local landfills. My sincerest thanks to 
Ms. Johnston and everyone at the Maine Float-Rope Company for their 
devotion to building forward-thinking small businesses that help our 
environment, our lobstermen, and our local economy. I wish them all 
success with this and future ``green entrepreneurial'' 
endeavors.

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