PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Members of the Maine lobster fishing industry are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block new fishing restrictions designed to protect a rare species of whale.
New rules make an approximately 950-square-mile area of the Gulf of Maine essentially off limits to lobster fishing from October to January.
The rules are to protect North Atlantic right whales.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last month that the closure is on.
Court documents say the lobstering union and others filed an emergency application with the high court on Nov. 24 asking it to vacate the appeals court’s decision.