April 13, 2020 — U.S. District Judge James Boasberg filed a 20-page order Thursday, April 9, declaring the American lobster fishery violates the Endangered Species Act.
The federal lawsuit challenged a biological opinion filed by NMFS in 2014 stating that the American lobster fishery “may adversely affect, but is not likely to jeopardize, the continued existence of North Atlantic right whales.”
The judge ruled against NMFS, noting that the agency failed to include an “incidental take statement.” That failure, the judge declared, renders the biological opinion illegal under the Endangered Species Act. The suit — filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Law Foundation and several other environmental groups — is similar to the California Dungeness crab lawsuit (led by the Center for Biological Diversity) which also claimed the fishery violated the ESA. The finding there forced the crab fishery to file for an incidental take permit, a process that can take years, and negotiate with the plaintiffs on whether there will be fishing seasons in the interim and what those opening and closing parameters will be.