Court steps in to protect whales from fishing gear - dashing hopes of fishermen seeking fewer regulations
Court steps in to protect whales from fishing gear - dashing hopes of fishermen seeking fewer regulations
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There are fewer than 400 of the whales species left - and the number is dwindling. A Boston court has stepped in to protect a dwindling species of whales, who would otherwise be under threat from loosening regulations for fishermen. Commercial fishermen thought they had scored a huge win days before President Donald Trump took office when the federal government withdrew a proposal that would have required more ships to slow down in East Coast waters to protect the whale.
![[Fisherman thought rules around the speed of their boats and areas they could try and catch lobsters in would be loosened, but a court has reverse the decision.]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/02/03/21/43/AP25034595698629.jpg)
Authorities said there was no way to implement the rules before Trump took office, and the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s decision Thursday, reinstating a federal law banning lobster fishing in a 200-nautical-mile area off the New England coast from Feb. 1 to April 30 annually. The decision was taken to prevent lethal entanglement in lobster fishing gear, one of the biggest threats to the North Atlantic right whale. The are currently less than 380 of the species left, with the other major threat collisions with large ships.
The winter fishing ban is important to the whales' survival because it takes place during months in which the giant animals are present in large numbers off the New England coast, said a group of environmental organizations that sued to reinstate the closure. The appeals court decision "represents a major victory for right whale conservation," said Jane Davenport, a senior attorney with Defenders of Wildlife, one of the groups that sued.
The closure "affects only a handful of lobstermen for three months but protects right whales from the deadly fishing gear entanglements driving this species towards extinction," Davenport said. Commercial fishermen are deciding how to respond to the appeals court ruling about lobster fishing, said Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association. "While we are disappointed at the ruling handed down today we are working with our counsels on what our options are for our next move," Casoni said.
