One man's Endangered Species Act nightmare almost over

Author: Brandon Middleton

Good news today from the East Coast.  I've discussed a couple times here the story of Strahan v. Holmes, the First Circuit case in which a UMass student is using his student loan money to sue a commercial lobster fisherman (Daniel Holmes) under the Endangered Species Act.  Richard Max Strahan wants the federal courts to stop Holmes from fishing in order to protect endangered whales — even though Holmes' gear is known to be whale-safe and the one time his gear became entangled with a whale was an accident which did not lead to any harm to the whale.

Nonetheless, Holmes has had to deal with significant uncertainty over his livehilood as a result of this lawsuit, and Strahan has not helped matters by requesting and receiving numerous extensions in the First Circuit over a nearly two year period.

Fortunately for Holmes, today the court finally said enough is enough and dismissed the appeal due to Strahan's lack of diligent prosecution. Although Strahan has 10 days to file a motion to set aside a dismissal, such a motion is unlikely to be granted in light of the appellant's numerous delays.

If ever there were a case of environmental extremism, without care for a human's welfare, this is it.  It's good to know that Daniel Holmes' Endangered Species Act ordeal is almost at an end.