PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 21, 2022
The National Marine Fisheries Service has developed a 10-year conservation plan to bring whale deaths down to levels that the population could withstand and still be sustainable. But a federal judge ruled in July that the plan wasn’t achieving its goals fast enough. The plan’s first phase, which went into effect in May. But in a lawsuit against the Fisheries Service by environmental groups, a U.S. District Court Judge determined those steps weren’t enough because the Marine Mammal Protection Act requires such conservation plans to bring the number of animals killed or injured to sustainable levels within six months of implementation. In order to achieve that, the Fisheries Service has determined that the risk posed by fishing gear and ship strikes must be reduced 90 percent.