Lobster union's battle over fishing waters heads to the Supreme Court
File photo / Laurie Schreiber
The Maine Lobstering Union filed a brief with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to end a seasonal fishing closure.
The Maine Lobstering Union, headquartered in Trenton, has filed a brief with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to end a closure of lobstering waters off the coast of Maine.
In October, the union won an injunction from the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine to stop the annual four-month closure of 967 square miles of the Gulf of Maine to lobster fishing.
But a federal appeals court overturned the decision on Nov. 16.
On Wednesday, the union announced its petition to Breyer.
"Generations of Mainers have taken pride in sustainably cultivating the world's best lobster while simultaneously protecting the right whales," Virginia Olsen, a union spokesperson, said in a news release. "The decision to close Maine's waters to this time-honored industry is unfortunately based on misguided and incomplete science."
The union, Damon Family Lobster Co. Inc., Fox Island Lobster Co. LLC and Frank Thompson filed an emergency injunction application with the court. The application seeks to halt enforcement of a Nov. 16 stay by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on the district court's order.
The lower court's ruling had blocked the National Marine Fisheries Service from enforcing a prohibition on the use of vertical buoy ropes in lobster fishing across the federal waters, 30 miles off the coast of Maine, between October and January each year.
The most recent legal action comes shortly after the Maine Lobstermen’s Association announced the launch of a three-year, $10 million fundraising campaign to fight what the group said are onerous federal regulations threatening the future of the industry.
The developments all stem from a plan, issued by the Fisheries Service on Aug. 31, that aims to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale by creating new requirements affecting Maine lobstermen. In addition to the October-through-January ban on lobster fishing with buoy lines, implemented for the first time this year, the plan includes mandates for additional gear marking and gear modification.
The association has said the Fisheries Service’s goal to reduce risk to right whales by 98% is unachievable, won’t save the right whales, and will decimate the industry.
Maine’s lobster industry directly supports more than 10,000 jobs and is worth roughly a half billion dollars at the dock each year. Collectively, the industry contributes $2 billion annually to the state’s economy
The North Atlantic right whale population dropped to 336 individuals in 2020 — an 8% decline from 2019 and the lowest population number for the species in nearly 20 years.
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Gov. Mills is on record opposing the closure of the affected lobster fishing area. Why hasn't Gov. Mills directed the Attorney General to file a "friend of the court" brief? I would think that would strengthen the lobster industry's appeal to the SCOTUS.
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