The federal government and environmental groups pushed the First Circuit to protect whales by reversing a federal judge’s order blocking the National Marine Fisheries Service from imposing a seasonal ban on lobster fishing in Maine.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit already put the lower court’s ruling on hold. The U.S. District Court for the District of Maine said the agency lacked reliable evidence showing North Atlantic right whales were present in the restricted area. But the lower court “over-stepped its role” in rejecting the agency’s judgments, the appeals court said in November.
Judge Lance E. Walker’s ...