Maine Lobstermen’s Association v. National Marine Fisheries Service

In an appeal by lobstermen and the State of Maine, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the federal district court for the District of Columbia and vacated a biological opinion as it applied to the lobster and Jonah crab fisheries. The appellate court also remanded a rule establishing a conservation framework intended to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale. The reversal was based on the D.C. Circuit’s holding that the Endangered Species Act did not permit the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to “give the ‘benefit of the doubt’ to an endangered species by relying upon worst-case scenarios or pessimistic assumptions” when faced with uncertainty. The appellate court did not address the issue raised in the district court of whether NMFS adequately considered evidence that right whales were increasingly spending more time in Canadian waters due to climate change.