MAINE PUBLIC • July 8, 2022
A federal judge ruled Friday that federal fisheries regulators are violating the Endangered Species Act by failing to adequately protect North Atlantic right whales from potentially deadly entanglements in fishing gear, including the rope used by Maine's lobster fleet. In his 43-page decision, Judge James Boasberg found that officials at the National Marine Fisheries Service violated the ESA with their recent finding that Atlantic crab and lobster fisheries will not jeopardize the existence of the whale, despite the agency's acknowledged expectation of continued harm.