Weak protection for vanishing whale violates law, judge says
Source: AP
By PATRICK WHITTLE
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The federal government hasn’t done enough to protect a rare species of whale from lethal entanglement in lobster fishing gear, and new rules are needed to protect the species from extinction, a judge has ruled.
The government has violated both the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act by failing to protect the North Atlantic right whale, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled on Friday. The whales number less than 340 in the world and have been declining rapidly in population in recent years.
Boasberg’s ruling was a victory for conservation groups that have long sought to save the whale and a new challenge for lobster fishermen who have fought back against tightening restrictions on where and how they can fish. Boasberg ruled that the court’s findings “do not dictate that it must immediately shutter the American lobster fishery,” but instead said the parties must propose potential remedies to the threat faced by whales.
The ruling “may seem a severe result for the lobster industry” and the government, but no one “operates free from the strict requirements imposed by the MMPA and ESA,” Boasberg wrote.
FILE - This Dec. 2, 2021, photo provided by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources shows an endangered North Atlantic right whale entangled in fishing rope being sighted with a newborn calf in waters near Cumberland Island, Ga. The federal government hasn't done enough to protect a rare species of whale from lethal entanglement in lobster fishing gear, and new rules are needed to protect the species from extinction, a judge has ruled, Friday, July 8, 2022. (Georgia Department of Natural Resources/NOAA Permit #20556 via AP)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/maine-whales-lobsters-climate-and-environment-c6e70c4863b2e4fded7ffa7bee3486cb
= new reply since forum marked as read
But I love live whales even more.
Good for this judge!
thanks for posting this, OS! 
