The fisheries service was sued by several environmental organizations in 2018 over its latest biological opinion, and those organizations were pleased to see the judge give the agency a hard deadline — although they had asked that it be set for the beginning of 2021.
“The judge made it clear that the federal government needs to go back to the drawing board and meaningfully address all of the impacts of the lobster fishery on right whales,” said Erica Fuller of the Conservation Law Foundation, one of the plaintiffs in the case. “Today’s ruling will put a stop to the government’s endless foot-dragging on implementing new long-term protections.”
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