September 28, 2021 — On Monday, Sept. 21, the Maine Lobstermen’s Association filed a lawsuit challenging NMFS’ new rule for Northeast lobster and Jonah crab fisheries.
The rule, filed on Aug. 31, is a modification of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan and is supposed to reduce the risk of entanglements to North Atlantic right whales in U.S. waters. The association says the modifications address only the perceived risk of Maine fisheries, which have no documented right whale interactions.
The lawsuit, filed against NMFS and the Secretary of Commerce in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that “the federal government’s draconian and fundamentally flawed 10‐year whale protection plan… will all but eliminate the Maine lobster fishery yet still fail to save endangered right whales.” The result would put both fishermen and whales in harm’s way, industry leaders have said.
Read the full story at National Fisherman