The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has withdrawn a proposed regulation intended to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale from vessel strikes. The decision has left conservationists and Maine’s lobster industry expressing disappointment,

Withdrawal of an environmental rule by NOAA with an estimated economic impact of $46.2 million along the Eastern Seaboard from Florida to Maine has drawn bipartisan

The proposed speed limits would have impacted all ferry service to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, as well as ferries from Boston to Provincetown.

After two years of debate and 90,000 public comments, NOAA withdrew a contentious boat speed rule aimed at Atlantic right whale conservation.