ELR Citation: 50 ELR 20109
No(s). 19-cv-10639-IT (D. Mass. Apr 30, 2020) (Talwani, J.)

A district court ordered the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environment Affairs (MEOEEA) to seek an incidental take permit pursuant to the ESA before issuing licenses that allow fishermen to use vertical buoy ropes (VBRs) in Massachusetts coastal waters. A citizen argued that VBRs harm and kill critically endangered animals such as the North Atlantic right whale, and thus that the MEOEEA's licensing of VBRs for use in lobsterpot and gillnet fishing in Massachusetts state waters without an incidental take permit violated the ESA. The court found that the citizen was likely to prevail on his claim that the deployment of VBRs violated and would continue to violate the ESA. It therefore ordered the MEOEEA to obtain an incidental take permit if they continue licensing the use of VBRs in state waters, but declined to immediately enjoin the use of VBRs given the inequitable hardship posed to state fishermen and the fishing industry.