MAINE PUBLIC • August 4, 2020
A federal judge says that within two weeks he will decide when, exactly, federal regulators must issue new rules to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. New rules could force costly changes for lobstermen in Maine and the rest of New England, because the rope they use to haul their traps poses a threat of entanglement for the whales. The federal government and the lobster industry say any change should wait until May 2021 to allow for full review and public comment on new rules once they are proposed. But conservationists noted that Boasberg has already found that the government's current rules violate the Endangered Species Act.