Maine Delegation, Governor Mills Announce Major Win for Maine’s Lobster Industry

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with the Maine lobster industry in opposing NOAA’s reliance on “worst case scenarios” data in its rulemakings affecting the fishery.

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King, Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden, and Governor Janet Mills announced that the Maine Lobstermen’s Association and the State of Maine’s Department of Marine Resources prevailed in its court case against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA).

“Maine’s lobstermen and women have long demonstrated their commitment to maintaining and protecting a sustainable fishery in the Gulf of Maine,” said the Maine Delegation and Governor Mills. “Today’s decision vindicates what the Maine lobster fishery, and the countless communities that rely on it, knew all along—that their practices support the conservation of the gulf ecosystem for generations to come.  We are pleased the court has acknowledged that the data set NOAA has been using to unfairly target Maine’s fishery is flawed.”

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