A new biological opinion will require fixed gear and trap pot fisheries in the Northeast to reduce entanglements by 87 per cent over the next decade.
A small group of North Atlantic right whales, including a mother and calf, were photographed on Sunday swimming about 20 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.
State fishing regulators overwhelmingly approved a first-of-its-kind seasonal lobstering ban to protect the North Atlantic right whale on Thursday — but exempted Vineyard.
A public comment period has opened on a slate of new proposed federal lobster and crab pot regulations as a last-ditch regulatory campaign to save North Atlantic right whales continues.
With the North Atlantic right whale population at a dangerously low ebb, the state Division of Marine Fisheries is proposing a statewide seasonal ban on lobstering.
The North Atlantic right whale has officially been red-listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature — an ominous step for a species that has long teetered on the brink of extinction.