LOBSTERMEN THREATEN LEGAL ACTION AGAINST NEW CLOSURE PLAN

Lobstermen threaten legal action against new closure plan. New England lobstermen warned on Tuesday that a new regulatory plan will imperil the region’s iconic lobster fishery and the livelihoods of fishing communities.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is crafting plans to expand the Massachusetts Restricted Area (MRA), where lobstering is banned for three months each year. The existing MRA covers 9,000 square miles, and its expansion will further slash dwindling economic prospects for lobstermen.

“The Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association continues to fight the closure of the wedge in Massachusetts due to the long-term implications such an arbitrary and capricious action can have on the commercial lobster industry,” the Association said. “We will continue to take the necessary legal action to stop this unwarranted and unjust action as the commercial lobstermen in Massachusetts continue to bear the brunt of these closures.”

The MRA costs coastal communities hundreds of millions of dollars. Lobster dollars drive local economies across New England, sustaining hospitality, retail, and transportation businesses, to say nothing of seafood supply chain jobs.

Massachusetts is a national leader in commercial seafood landings, with the port at New Bedford, Mass. leading the nation in terms of value of landings. In Maine, the lobster fishery supply chain generates $1billion, according to a 2018 study. No surprise that the study designates lobster “perhaps the most economically important asset for the state.”

NOAA is expanding the restricted area to protect the North Atlantic right whale, an endangered marine mammal. The agency baselessly blames lobstermen for right whale deaths citing entanglements with fishing gear.

The government’s scapegoating campaign is all the more outrageous because federal agencies are probing interactions between whales and offshore wind development. NOAA’s own scientists have warned that noise and vessel traffic associated with construction pose risks to right whales and other marine species, but agency leaders have ignored this guidance.

“I wish regulators treated fishermen as well as they treat foreign corporations,” said NEFSA COO, Dustin Delano, a fourth-generation lobstermen. “Lobstermen have built up one of the most sustainable fisheries in the world, but regulators treat us like an invasive species. Meanwhile, the corporations industrialising our coasts are getting tax credits and official permission to harm marine species.”

If NOAA finalises a rule expanding the MRA, NEFSA expects to challenge it in court.
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