Massachusetts lobstermen haul up victory in fight to harvest crustaceans just outside Boston Harbor in the early spring

A federal judge ruled yesterday that Massachusetts lobster trappers can continue to set pots for lobsters and Jonah crabs in a briny area just outside Boston Harbor, where federal officials had tried to stop them between February and April in a bid to keep endangered right whales migrating northward from the Cape from getting snared in their lines.

In his ruling today, US District Court Judge William Young ruled that the prohibition against lobster and Jonah-crab harvesting in the "Wedge" area between Feb. 1 and April 30 violated a federal law, passed last year, that bars any changes to earlier whale-saving prohibitions until at least 2028. The area is surrounded by other waters where the feds were already banning early spring harvesting.

Young announced his ruling at a hearing yesterday. A lawyer, for the National Marine Fisheries Service told Young the agency would appeal his ruling and asked him to stay it until that appeal could be heard, but he declined, meaning this year's ban on trapping has to be lifted immediately.

Federal fisheries officials had enforced what they called temporary early spring bans in the Wedge on the harvesting of lobsters and Jonah crabs - which can be caught with the same gear as lobsters - in 2022 and 2023, but in February published a new rule making the annual early spring ban permanent:

Substantial observational evidence has documented the consistent presence of right whales within the MRA Wedge from February through April and aerial surveys have similarly documented the presence of aggregated fixed gear in the MRA Wedge during this same time period. Due to the co-occurrence of whales and buoy lines, both in high densities in this area during the specified times of year, this entanglement risk is expected to recur annually.

The Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association, calling that a bunch of tomalley, immediately sued. It argued that in addition to the 2023 law forestalling any changes, it and its members have long actively worked to reduce the risks to migrating whales, including agreeing to closing off other areas to their craft during migration periods and to using "weak lines" less likely to snare whales.

MLA’s leading from the front conservation and risk mitigation efforts have been successful as there is no evidence of any serious injuries or mortalities to North Atlantic Right Whales arising from Massachusetts-licensed lobster fishing gear in recent history, making Massachusetts waters a veritable safe haven for the North Atlantic Right Whale.