Maine Department of Marine Resources

State officials see the work as a way to get more Maine feedback into the hands of federal regulators, who are looking for ways to further reduce the risk of entanglement and injury to critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The population dip comes faster than fisheries managers anticipated and will eventually trigger changes for fishermen to preserve the spawning stock.

State lawmakers are considering a new, million-dollar fund to help Maine lobstermen test fishing gear that's intended to minimize interactions with right whales.

A handful of state Republicans want Maine to claim jurisdiction over a larger swath of coastal waters, in attempt to alleviate federal regulatory pressures on the state's lobster fishery. But state officials and the leading group representing Maine lobstermen say the proposal could make things worse.

Maine’s lobster harvest fell off again last year, but landings data for all of the state’s commercial fisheries show that dollar-for-dollar, 2019 was the…