Saving Seafood

Law

In class action lawsuit, lobstermen fight efforts to ‘red list’ their catch

March 3, 2023 — Four Massachusetts lobstermen have filed a class action suit against the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Marine Stewardship Council, groups that urged distributors and grocery stores to avoid purchasing lobster because of the fishery’s impact on North Atlantic right whales.

“We’ve always been like the punching bag for, like, the whale people. So I’m glad we’re finally striking back,” said plaintiff Jarrett Drake, a lobsterman who fishes out of New Bedford, “because it gives us a chance to try to at least defend ourselves.”

In September, the seafood watch groups argued that “red listing” American lobster is necessary because entanglement in trap pot gear used for lobster fishing is a leading cause of death for the critically endangered whales. Their population now stands around 340.

The “Red List” is used by more than 25,000 restaurants, stores, and distributors to help guide purchasing and menu choices.

Read the full article at CAI

Maine Lobstermen’s court appeal heard; new attempt to rescind gear delay

March 1, 2023 — A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. is considering the Maine Lobstermen’s Association appeal of the government’s fishing gear restrictions aimed at saving endangered whales.

In arguments Feb. 24, the MLA’s lead attorney Paul Clement, a former U.S. solicitor general during the Bush administration, laid out the fishermen’s case, arguing the National Marine Fisheries Service went overboard in making worst-case assumptions about the danger of Maine lobster gear entangling whales.

The North Atlantic right whale is highly endangered, with fewer than 350 animals believed to be surviving, with ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement leading causes of mortality. Clement made the MLA’s case that none in recent years have been documented to involve Maine lobster gear.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

National animal rights group sues Maine over aquaculture rules

March 1, 2023 — A national animal rights group is suing the state, alleging that it has failed to adequately protect fish raised in aquaculture facilities and that it does not have rules in place to regulate large-scale fish farms.

Animal Outlook, an animal advocacy organization based in Washington DC and California, filed suit Feb. 22 in Kennebec County Superior Court to challenge the state’s decision to reject its citizen petition.

The petition, signed by 152 registered Maine voters, calls on the state agriculture department to adopt new rules regarding inspections and enforcement of animal cruelty laws for fish raised by commercial companies.

But the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry rejected the petition in September, calling it “incomplete and defective,” primarily because Animal Outlook didn’t provide text for the rule it wants the state to adopt.

In the February lawsuit, Animal Outlook accuses the state of refusing to adopt standards for aquaculture facilities, failing to investigate the facilities and failing to enforce existing animal cruelty laws.

The agriculture department did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

Read the full article at Spectrum News

Juneau joins Southeast communities in backing king salmon troll fishery

March 1, 2023 — The Juneau Assembly has joined Petersburg, Wrangell, Sitka and Ketchikan in supporting Southeast Alaska’s king salmon troll fishery against a lawsuit that could threaten its future.

A resolution passed by the Assembly on Monday night opposes a lawsuit filed by the Wild Fish Conservancy, a Washington-based environmental group. The group says the federal government hasn’t adequately addressed the fishery’s impacts on the food supply of Southern Resident killer whales in Puget Sound.

Assembly member Carole Triem drafted the resolution. At a committee meeting earlier this month, she said it’s important for Juneau to support the trollers.

“It’s a lot less visible in Juneau than it is in Petersburg, Wrangell, Sitka or Ketchikan – the size, and the impact of the commercial fishing industry – but it’s still a pretty big part of our economy,” she said.

Read the full article at KTOO

Federal court hears arguments from Maine lobstermen appealing right whale regulations

February 27, 2023 — A federal appeals court heard arguments Friday from the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, which is challenging a government plan to regulate the fishery and conserve endangered right whales.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association had promised to take its latest appeal of federal fishing regulations all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.

But lobstermen hope they’ll avoid that prospect, especially with Paul Clement, an attorney with more than 100 past Supreme Court appearances, representing Maine.

Read the full article at Bangor Daily News

US Court strikes down charter boat tracking rule

February 27, 2023 — An appeals court has struck down a federal fisheries management rule requiring operators of privately owned charter boats in the Gulf of Mexico to equip their vessels with tracking devices, a victory for a group of Louisiana and Florida charter operators who challenged the rule in a 2020 lawsuit.

Thursday’s ruling by a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans reversed a lower court decision upholding the regulation, which had been developed to help regulators keep track of the amount of fish caught on recreational charter vessels.

Rejecting government arguments, the panel said that tracking devices are not the type of equipment regulators can require on recreational vessels under a federal fishing regulation law passed by Congress — the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

Read the full article at the Washington Post

Feds sued to protect endangered turtles, whales, sharks from fishing lines

February 24, 2023 — The Conservation Council for Hawaii sued National Marine Fisheries Service fisheries in Hawaii and American Samoa for delaying consultations meant to ensure the fisheries are properly managing incidental catch species including several endangered sea turtle, whale and shark species.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the Conservation Council and Michael Nakachi, a Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner, claim the longline fisheries have been exceeding their incidental take limits for nearly nine years in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

The fisheries’ longline fishing gear, mileslong mainlines with baited hooks extending vertically into the water, primarily targets tuna but has no way to exclude nontarget marine animals, luring in and eventually killing hundreds of species including endangered ones.

“By failing to complete the consultations, NMFS is failing to ensure that these fisheries do not jeopardize the continued existence of these species or destroy or adversely modify their critical habitat, in violation of ESA Section 7 and its implementing regulations,” the plaintiffs say in the complaint.

Earthjustice, on behalf of the Conservation Council, first initiated action against the agency in May 2022, asking for consultations and reports to be done on oceanic whitetip sharks, which had been recently designated by the Endangered Species Act and did not have previously established take limits. All parties stipulated to a voluntary dismissal after the fisheries service promised to complete the consultations, which it submitted in September. The plaintiffs say this wasn’t enough.

Read the full article at Courthouse News Service

Alaska sues NMFS for over designating critical habitat for ice seals

February 17, 2023 — The State of Alaska filed a complaint yesterday against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) asking a U.S. District Court to vacate the critical habitat designations for ringed and bearded seals.

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy sees the science giving way to politics. “Washington D.C. continues to see our state as the nation’s sole wildlife preserve, to the detriment of the opportunities we were promised at statehood to be able to build a robust economy,” Governor Dunleavy said.

Read the full article at KINY

Sitka Assembly donates $25K to support trollers’ legal fund

February 16, 2023 — The Sitka Assembly will give $25,000 to support the Alaska Trollers Association’s legal defense fund. The group unanimously approved the funding in a final vote on February 14.

The Alaska Trollers Association is an intervenor in a lawsuit that a Washington-based nonprofit brought against the National Marine Fisheries Service three years ago. The Wild Fish Conservancy aims to protect an endangered population of killer whales in Puget Sound by targeting the Southeast troll fishery. In December, a US District Court Judge issued a recommendation that could shut the troll fishery down until the NMFS makes some policy changes.

Read the full article at KCAW

Nordic Aquafarms loses court battle over land crucial to its Maine RAS plans

February 16, 2023 — Nordic Aquafarms, which has plans to build a large land-based recirculating aquaculture system salmon farm in Belfast, Maine, U.S.A., has lost its fight over rights to intertidal land the company planned to use to site its inflow and outflow pipes.

In a 16 February ruling, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court found the plaintiffs in the case – Jeffrey R. Mabee and Judith B. Grace – were correct in their original assertion they are the owners of the intertidal land.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource