MAINE PUBLIC • December 2, 2021
A Trenton-based union that represents lobstermen and other industry stakeholders is making an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to halt new fishing restrictions in a nearly-one-thousand square mile area off Maine. Federal regulators say critically endangered North Atlantic right whales could be killed there by entanglement with lobster trap-rope, and have barred traditional lobstering from October through January. Under the latest court ruling, lobstermen who fish the area about 30 miles off the Midcoast are supposed to have removed their gear by this week. The Maine Lobstering Union says it's appealing that ruling.