December 7, 2021 — The Supreme Court on Friday turned down a request by the Maine Lobstering Union and others to end a closure of lobstering waters off the state’s coast.
The union, Damon Family Lobster Co. Inc., Fox Island Lobster Co. LLC and Frank Thompson had filed an emergency injunction application on Wednesday with the court, seeking to halt enforcement of an earlier ruling by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.
That decision had stayed one by the U.S. District Court for Maine to stop a new four-month closure of 967 square miles of the Gulf of Maine to lobster fishing.
The developments all stem from a plan, issued by the Fisheries Service on Aug. 31, that aims to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale by creating new requirements affecting Maine lobstermen. In addition to the October-through-January ban on lobster fishing with buoy lines, implemented for the first time this year, the plan includes mandates for additional gear marking and gear modification.
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