Appeals court reinstates lobster fishing limits to preserve right whales
There are an estimated 356 North Atlantic right whales in existence, according to the latest numbers released Monday from the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. (Photo by Moira Brown/New England Aquarium)
Conservation groups are praising a recent decision to reinstate protections for endangered North Atlantic right whales in a particularly precarious stretch of ocean off the coast of Massachusetts.
The First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston decided Thursday to restrict lobster fishing, which in turn restores protections for endangered right whales. That decision overturned a district court verdict by reinstating a 2024 National Marine Fisheries Service rule that cordoned off a 200 square mile area of federal waters between February and April, when right whales are present.
'The First Circuit's decision represents a major victory for right whale conservation,' said Jane Davenport, senior attorney at Defenders of Wildlife, who argued the case for conservation groups. 'The wedge closure affects only a handful of lobstermen for three months but protects right whales from the deadly fishing gear entanglements driving this species towards extinction.'
Found along the East Coast, the whales' migratory paths overlap with highly productive lobster fishing areas in Maine and Massachusetts, making entanglements in fishing gear one of the major threats for the animals. With a population of less than 400 and even fewer reproductively active females, right whales are approaching extinction with more than half a dozen threats to their existence, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.
Along with changes to fishing regulations to prevent entanglements with gear, there have also been efforts to implement speed limits to prevent vessel strikes, another leading cause of death for right whales.
The National Marine Fisheries Service previously decided to seasonally close portions of federal water. However, a 2021 rule left that section off the coast of Massachusetts open for fishing, creating a hotspot for whales to get entangled in lobster fishing gear. The agency then issued emergency rules in 2022 and 2023 to temporarily close that section before making a final rule in 2024.
The Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association challenged the final rule. Maine Morning Star reached out to the organization, as well as the Maine Lobstermen's Association, for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.
The district court judge that rejected the 2024 rule cited the Consolidated Appropriations Act from fiscal year 2023, which deemed state and federal lobster fishery authorizations were already in full compliance with protections for endangered species and marine mammals through the end of 2028.
However, a separate court ruling showed the 2021 rule from the National Marine Fisheries Service was in violation of those protections. The district court didn't take that ruling into account, instead claiming that the 2022 emergency rule wasn't in place when the Consolidated Appropriations Act was enacted so it wasn't a factor in complying with those protections.
In May 2024, three conservation groups — Conservation Law Foundation, Defenders of Wildlife and Whale and Dolphin Conservation — appealed the district court decision. The groups proved successful when the appeal court's ruling confirmed that the 2024 rule was finalized to be consistent with the Consolidated Appropriations Act.
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