WASHINGTON – 14 March 2012 – The National Marine Fisheries Service must reassess how its management plan for U.S. Atlantic herring fisheries will affect other species, a federal judge ruled.
Michael Flahherty, a New England fisherman, sued over an amendment to the NMFS plan for herring fisheries. Amendment 4 assumes that Atlantic herring are the only stock fish in the fishery, and sets acceptable biological catch limits and accountability measures for the fishery fleet on that assumption.
But Flaherty said this would result in massive overfishing of river herring stock, in violation of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
Since the government failed to consider the impact on river herring, Flahherty claimed the change violated the National Environmental Policy Act.
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