June 22, 2023 — Two fishermen slapped the Biden administration with a lawsuit that says Congress and several unelected councils are unconstitutionally regulating and overseeing fisheries.
Commercial fishermen George Arnesen of Louisiana and Ryan Bradley of Mississippi argue that Congress has placed regulatory authority in the hands of an “unconstitutional regime” that puts local fisherman “at the mercy of unaccountable bureaucrats who answers only to themselves.”
The lawsuit specifically cites the 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the primary law that governs marine fisheries management located within U.S. federal waters, with the plaintiffs calling it “Congress’s first comprehensive attempt to regulate fishing in federal waters.”