A bunch of Massachusetts lobstermen has sued the federal authorities over an emergency closure of fishing grounds that’s designed to guard an endangered species of whale.
The closure, enacted on February 1, prevented lobster fishing in about 200 sq. miles (518 sq. kilometers) of Massachusetts Bay by way of the tip of April. The Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration mentioned the closure was mandatory to guard North Atlantic proper whales of harmful entanglements within the fishing line.
The whales quantity solely about 340 on the earth, they usually return to New England waters every spring. However the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Affiliation maintains that the closure is prohibited and can trigger financial injury to the trade, and sued the federal company in courtroom this month.
The fishing group is ready for phrase on a courtroom date, mentioned Beth Casoni, its govt director. The group mentioned in courtroom paperwork that the closure hurts an trade that’s “important to Massachusetts’ tradition, heritage, id and economic system,” and that the courtroom ought to reopen the fishing grounds.
“This motion will not be justified, it’s overreaching and, fairly frankly, it’s unacceptable,” Casoni mentioned.
A spokeswoman for the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declined to touch upon the lawsuit as a result of it’s nonetheless in courtroom.
The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries has mentioned the closures are vital “to guard seasonal aggregations.” of proper whales of doable entanglements within the buoy traces”. Some environmental teams additionally applauded the restriction as important to guard the whale, whose inhabitants has declined in recent times.
US lobster fishing takes place principally exterior of Maine and Massachusetts, with some lobster additionally making its strategy to docks in New Hampshire, southern New England and additional south. The trade is coping with financial pressures, corresponding to latest selections by some retailers to cease promoting lobsters as a consequence of considerations concerning the menace to the whales. It is also coping with proposed new fishing restrictions designed to guard whales alongside the East Coast.
The trade can be extra productive than ever. US lobstermen caught practically 135 million kilos of lobster price about $925 million in 2021. Lobstermen by no means exceeded 100 million kilos in a single yr till 2010.
About 110 million kilos of lobster arrived at Maine docks in 2021 and about 17 million in Massachusetts.
