PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 3, 2021
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday denied a request to lift fishing restrictions in the Gulf of Maine aimed at protecting North Atlantic right whales, leaving Maine lobster harvesters unsure of what recourse they have. The Maine Lobstering Union had filed an emergency application on Nov. 24 asking the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate a lower court ruling and reopen a roughly 950-square-mile area of the Gulf of Maine. The area is scheduled to be closed through January – and every subsequent October through January – in an effort to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.