On November 16, 2020, Judge Lance Walker ordered a temporary stay in the lawsuit led by Max Strahan, aka Man Against Xtinction, in September 2019 in U.S. District court in Bangor. Strahan had brought suit … Continue reading
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Massachusetts Proposes New Regulations to Protect Right Whales in State Waters
In January 2020, Max Strahan, a self-described whale activist, filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts against the state. He contended that the Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) licensing of fixed gear fisheries … Continue reading
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NOAA Estimates Only 366 Right Whales Alive
Every year, NOAA Fisheries estimates the endangered North Atlantic right whale population abundance and shares that estimate at the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium’s annual meeting, held this year on Oct 27-28, 2020. This year’s … Continue reading
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Lobster Zone Councils’ Sub-Committees Recommend Conservation Equivalencies, Part of Whale Plan
Maine and other New England states with a lobster fishery are developing plans to reduce the risk of entanglement by North Atlantic right whales in lobster gear by 60% as required by the National Marine … Continue reading
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The New Whale Rules . . . How Did We Get Here?
Maine lobstermen are bracing for the release of the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) draft whale rules and Biological Opinion which have been three years in the making. What changes will the rules require of … Continue reading
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Federal Court Keeps Lobster Fishery Open… For Now
Lobstermen can breathe a sigh of relief as they are no longer under threat of a complete shutdown of the fishery in February, 2021. They also don’t face the risk of a federal court in … Continue reading
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Steaming Ahead-August 2020
Over the years I’ve been increasingly frustrated by how effective the environmental community is in selling its side of the right whale story to the public, seamlessly ignoring so many of the known threats to … Continue reading
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Draft Whale Rules Expected by Fall
Maine lobstering communities are waiting with great anxiety to learn the outcome of two court cases related to North Atlantic right whale protections. Each case has the potential to fundamentally change how lobster fishing is … Continue reading
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Governor Mills Responds to Pew Charitable Trusts Petition for Closures
Standing up for Maine’s vital lobster industry and its hardworking men and women, Governor Janet Mills today urged U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross to deny a petition by Pew Charitable Trusts that would prohibit … Continue reading
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Nonprofit Organization Petitions NMFS for Closures
On June 18, the Pew Charitable Trusts sent a petition to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) requesting emergency rules in a broad stretch of the Gulf of Maine … Continue reading
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