February 3, 2022 — Maine lobstermen can resume setting their traps in a roughly 960-square-mile area of ocean that’s been off-limits to them for the past two months.
That closure was part of new rules from the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, ordered to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales.
Fishermen in that offshore area were told to remove their traps by late October, but the Maine Lobstering Union challenged the requirement in court and won a restraining order. However, just a few weeks later, a federal appeals court overturned that ruling and reinstated the closure, which finally began at the end of November.
The Maine Lobstermen’s Association estimated last year that nearly 200 fishermen normally work that area during the months it would be closed.
Tuesday marked the end of the closure and fishermen can now return to those waters. However, the MLA said the closure has cost those fishermen money, as they had to spend time relocating traps instead of fishing, which may have reduced catches.