Mass. AG: Stop New Federal Fishing Catch Limits

Attorney General Martha Coakley is urging a court to stop new federal fishing regulations which she called an "existential threat" to New England's 400-year-old fishing industry.

Coakley said her office's motion for summary judgment, filed in the United States District Court in Boston, reinforced the arguments made in the state's lawsuit filed against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on May 30.

Coakley has also sent a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski asking the Maryland Democrat to include $150 million in fisheries disaster funding in the final Fiscal Year 2014 federal budget.

The complaint alleges NOAA ignored the economic impact of the regulations and using flawed science to drastically reduce the annual catch limits for cod and other species.

The suit aims to block the new rules.