December 6, 2021 — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday against Maine lobster fishermen who sought to block new fishing restrictions that are designed to protect rare whales.
The new rules make an approximately 950-square-mile area of the Gulf of Maine essentially off limits to lobster fishing from October to January. That’s to protect North Atlantic right whales, which are one of the rarest whales and number less than 340.
Members of Maine’s lobster fishing industry asked the high court to block the new restrictions after an appeals court ruled that the closure was legal. Justice Stephen Breyer rejected the appeal on Friday without comment, a spokesperson for the Supreme Court said.
The Maine Lobstering Union and others have argued that the restrictions will hurt the fishing industry economically. The restrictions are intended to protect the whales from lethal entanglement in fishing gear. That’s one of the biggest threats to their existence.