May 6, 2019 — Fishing managers on the East Coast began the daunting process this week of implementing new restrictions on lobster fishing that are designed to protect a vanishing species of whale.
A team organized by the federal government recommended last week that the number of vertical trap lines in the water be reduced by about half. The lines have entrapped and drowned the North Atlantic right whale, which numbers a little more than 400 and has declined by dozens this decade.
The interstate Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission met Monday outside Washington to discuss the implementation of the new rules, which are designed to reduce serious injuries and deaths among whales by 60 percent.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Daily Times