Aerial survey of North Atlantic Right Whales courtesy of New England Aquarium, taken under NEFSC permit #25739
PORTLAND, ME (AP) – A federal judge has denied a request from fishing groups that sought to challenge new fishing rules designed to protect rare whales.
The lobster fishing groups wanted a federal judge to stop regulators from placing new restrictions on the harvest of the crustaceans.
The rules are intended to protect North Atlantic right whales, which number less than 340 and are vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear.
U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg denied the request in a Thursday ruling. It’s the latest in a string of legal setbacks for lobster fishermen who are coping with increasingly strict fishing rules meant to save the whales.
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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