A small collective of Maine lobstermen is dropping its lawsuit challenging a federally required seasonal closure as the industry waits for regulators to rehash a larger set of rules created last year to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

The Maine Lobster Union in Trenton, along with Fox Island Lobster Co. in Vinalhaven and Damon Family Lobster Co. in Stonington, filed their complaint in federal court against officials with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Marine Fisheries Service in September. They were challenging the enforcement of a rule that would bar lobstermen from working within a 950-square mile region off the Gulf of Maine from October to January.

There are two larger civil cases against federal regulators still being considered by a federal judge in Washington, D.C. One is fronted by the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, which argued that the existing set of proposed rules – including the seasonal closure – would stifle their industry. The second was initiated by a trio of environmental groups who said the federal rules aren’t strict enough.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled in favor of the environmental groups in July, concluding that federal rules didn’t go far enough to protect right whales.

Now the Commerce department and the National Marine Fisheries Service have to come up with new rules that satisfy Boasberg’s latest ruling.

Attorneys behind the smaller lawsuit challenging the seasonal closure said their move for dismissal Wednesday was a technical move.

“Essentially, a lawsuit up here is moot, because a new rule is going to be issued,” said attorney Alfred Frawley, one of several representing the Maine Lobster Union and two companies.

It’s unclear whether Boasberg will allow the existing closure to remain in effect while U.S. officials draft new rules. For now, lobstering companies are still expected to shutter their operations from October to January, as they had to do last fall.

The agreement clarifies that the union and two companies “reserve their rights to continue to assert any claims raised in connection with other civil actions pending in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia,” and to “bring new challenges” to future rulemaking by federal fisheries regulators.

The Maine Lobster Union also is an intervenor in the lawsuit from the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.