October 20, 2021 –Maine lobstermen will not have to stop fishing in an area slated to be off-limits from October through January.
A federal judge granted temporary relief to the Maine Lobstering Union Saturday.
The group sued in an effort to block the seasonal closure of the roughly 1,000-square-mile area.
Federal officials argued the closure is necessary to help protect endangered North Atlantic right whales from extinction.
“You’re not going to save a whale by closing down I-95 and we feel like that’s the same implication,” said Virginia Olsen of the Maine Lobstering Union.
The rules issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration through the National Marine Fisheries Service are part of a 10-year plan to reduce the risk of right whales getting tangled in lobster fishing ropes and dying.
The Maine Lobstermen’s Association filed a lawsuit in September to challenge the protections which, they argue, will “eliminate” the Maine lobster fishery.