A major Victory for the lobster industry!
June 16, 2023 – In a major victory for Maine’s lobster industry, a federal appeals court today has ordered the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to go back to the drawing board and re-work the most recent federal regulation to protect endangered North Atlantic Right Whales.
In its decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed with the plaintiffs, Maine Lobstermen’s Association, and plaintiff-intervenors the Maine Department of Marine Resources, the Maine Lobstering Union, and the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, ruling that NMFS distorted the science driving the regulation, relying improperly on assumptions and worst-case scenarios when determining the risk posed by industry to right whales.
The court’s decision allows the current regulation to remain in effect while NMFS develops a new rule and does not impact recent Congressional action to delay further rulemaking until 2028.
The court has also overturned the Biological Opinion in which NMFS analyzed the risk posed by the lobster and Jonah crab fisheries to right whales, requiring NMFS to develop a new one.
“Maine’s lobstermen and women have long demonstrated their commitment to maintaining and protecting a sustainable fishery in the Gulf of Maine,” said the Maine Delegation and Governor Mills. “Today’s decision vindicates what the Maine lobster fishery, and the countless communities that rely on it, knew all along—that their practices support the conservation of the gulf ecosystem for generations to come. We are pleased the court has acknowledged that the data set NOAA has been using to unfairly target Maine’s fishery is flawed.”