Conservation Measures for Right Whales Should Stand, Feds Say

The National Marine Fisheries Service urged a Washington, D.C., federal judge to uphold its conservation measures for right whales and reject Maine’s and Maine lobstermen’s allegations of over-regulation.

The state and Maine Lobstermen’s Association argue the agency lacked accurate data when it issued seasonal fishing restrictions, lowered the amount of buoy lines in waters, and expanded gear marking requirements among other changes. The agency’s action came after it learned the North Atlantic right whale population was declining and observed an “unusual mortality event” of 17 human-caused whale deaths in 2017.

Those same groups “vigorously opposed gear marking and reporting requirements ...