Maine Lobstermen Win Court Battle Against Biden Administration's Regulations.
Maine lobstermen won a legal victory against the Biden administration's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) over regulations that threatened their livelihood. The NMFS imposed operating limits on lobster fisheries and set new technical standards on how much lobster trap rope could be in the water, which would cut in half the number of traps that could be deployed. The Maine Lobstermen's Association (MLA) sued the NMFS for its new rule that the government said was aimed at protecting the endangered North Atlantic right whale, but that lobstermen claimed threatened to put family-owned lobster fisheries out of business. The MLA says that right whales do not inhabit the coast of Maine, and there has not been a documented right whale entanglement associated with Maine lobstermen since 2004.