Last Thursday, Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross was sued by environmental groups for  not keeping North Atlantic whales, an endangered species safe from getting tangled in lobster traps, leading them to drown off of the United States coast.

      The National Marine Fisheries service has already come to a conclusion that the lobster traps have led to the deaths of the North Atlantic whales, but are still refusing to act. Environmental groups believe that the Federal Government need to take action.

The environmental groups want the Federal Court to demand the fisheries service to take action to save the whales. Their argument is that the fisheries service is violating the Endangered Species Law.

Defenders of Wildlife, the Center of Biological Diversity, and the Humane Society were the environmental groups that sued Wilbur Ross last Thursday.

Notices were also sent to Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke, threatening that they were going to sue him under the Endangered Species Act for failing to decide on whether many other North Carolina species, such as the Neuse River waterdog and the Carolina madtom catfish were endangered and for not taking action to protect this number of species.

Since the Endangered Species Law gives environmental groups the right to file lawsuits if determination has not been made, as well as not protecting an endangered species, Wilbur Ross will be held accountable for the many deaths of the North Atlantic whales, while Ryan Zinke could possibly be held accountable for not keeping a number of North Carolina species safe.