PORTLAND, Maine (AP) The head of Maine’s fisheries department is making the case that endangered right whales face numerous threats that have nothing to do with the lobster fishing industry.

Maine’s lobster fishing industry is the subject of numerous new restrictions as part of a federal government push to save the North Atlantic right whale. The whale numbers only about 360 and it’s vulnerable to lethal entanglement in fishing gear.

Maine Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher says more weight needs to be given to other threats facing the whales like low birth rates and ship strikes.