A United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has sided with Maine lobstermen in a new judicial opinion opposing a NOAA federal biological opinion that ultimately resulted in the Gulf of Maine lobster fishery losing its Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification last year.
The judicial panel said in an opinion filed this month that an earlier district federal court ruling that found regulations intended to reduce the risk of right whale interactions in the Maine lobster fishery do not meet the legal requirements of the US Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act should be vacated.
