A federal appeals court judge on Tuesday reinstated a ban on lobster fishing in an area off the Maine coast as part of a plan to protect endangered whales.

In response to an emergency motion filed by environmental groups, The First Circuit Court of Appeals put the ban back in place for a 967-square-mile area in the Gulf of Maine from October through January. The National Marine Fisheries Service implemented the ban to protect North Atlantic right whales.

“We’re thrilled right whales will get at least some relief from deadly lobster gear,” said Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a press release from the Conservation Law Foundation.

In October, Maine lobstermen challenged the prohibition and won a ruling to stop the order from taking effect. But the appeals court wrote that the lower court “misapprehended the record and over-stepped its role in rejecting the judgment of the agency that Congress has charged with protecting endangered marine mammals.”

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association issued a statement on Wednesday from executive director Patrice McCarrron.

“(Tuesday's) decision resolves only the question of whether fishing will be allowed in the LMA 1 closure while the case is pending,” McCarron said in the statement. “Nevertheless, it foreshadows the grave future our lobster fishery faces if NMFS’s 10- year whale plan is not rescinded in favor of a plan based on science.”

On Tuesday, the Maine Lobstermen’s Association announced it is launching a $10 million fundraising campaign aimed at fighting the federal whale protections.

“I don’t believe the federal government wants to kill Maine’s lobster industry, but they’re required to do it solely focused on protecting the whale,” MLA vice-president Dustin Delano said.