PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 29, 2021
The Maine Legislature is threatening to fight the federal government in court over a set of controversial new seasonal restrictions on lobster harvesting in the Gulf of Maine. Legislators on Wednesday approved a joint order from Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, that would allow the Legislative Council to take legal action in support of Maine lobstermen affected by the regulations. Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a new set of rules for New England’s lobster fishery aimed at reducing the risk to critically endangered North Atlantic right whales and other whale species. Lobstermen say the new regulations will be expensive, dangerous, burdensome and impractical, and won’t reduce the risk to whales.