WASHINGTON – Feb. 1 2013 — The court-approved settlement agreement in Oceana v. Blank challenging the NMFS approval of 2012 sector operations plans on grounds that the level of at sea monitoring (ASM) coverage of sector operations plans was not adequately explained or justified.
On May 31, 2012, Oceana filed a Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief challenging a rule that defined the Service's at-sea monitoring and enforcement obligations related to sectors operating under the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan for fishing year 2012, ECF No.1.
A settlement agreement was entered into between plaintiff Oceana, Inc. and federal defendants Dr. Rebecca Blank, in her official capacity as Acting Secretary of the United States Department of Commerce, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
An excerpt from the agreement follows:
1. On or before the date of publication in the Federal Register of the proposed rule to approve sector operations plans in the Northeast Multispecies Fishery, which for the upcoming fishing year is expected to occur on or about January 31, 2013, the Service will publish in the Federal Register the appropriate level of observer coverage for at-sea monitoring (as defined in 50 C.F.R. § 648.2) that is required for sector vessels operating in the Northeast Multispecies Fishery, as well as the web address (URL) that will have, in an online, text-searchable format, a summary of the Service's analyses regarding the appropriate level of observer coverage (unless the Fishery Management Plan for the Northeast Multispecies Fishery is modified in such a way that the Service no longer has responsibility for setting that level of at-sea monitoring). That summary shall include (1) a description of the data upon which the Service relied; (2) summary tables or graphs of that data the Service prepared; (3) a presentation of the data for each sector, by stock and gear, including the number of unique vessels, discarded pounds, the number of subtrips, the number of observed subtrips, the percent of subtrips observed, the realized stock coefficient of variation ("C.Y."), and the percent observer coverage required to achieve the minimum c.y. of 30% (except where the disclosure of such data would conflict with ~ 4 below); and (4) an explanation of the standards the Service applied to that data to determine the appropriate level of coverage (including, but not limited to, the target c.y. and the standards used to ensure observer data as a whole, including the data from both the Northeast Fishery Observer Program and at-sea monitors, is accurate and timely). The Service will also present the data referred to in subparagraphs (2) and (3) for previously completed fishing years from 2010 forward, as well as the upcoming fishing year for which the analyses are conducted.
2. The Service will publish the summary analyses referenced in Paragraph I for the 2013, 2014, and 2015 fishing years, each time in the same manner and subject to the same qualifications that appear in that paragraph (unless the Fishery Management Plan for the Northeast Multispecies Fishery is modified in such a way that the Service no longer has responsibility for setting the level of at-sea monitoring).
3. If the Service changes the at-sea monitoring level for sector vessels for a particular fishing year after the Federal Register publication referenced in Paragraph 1 but before the issuance of the final rule approving the sector contracts, the Service will announce the change in that final rule and explain the change online at the same address referenced in Paragraph 1.
4. Nothing in this Agreement requires or authorizes the Service to disclose any confidential information in violation of the confidentiality provisions of the MSA, 16 U.S.C. § 1881a. For the purposes of 16 U.S.C. § 188Ia(b)(1)(C), this Agreement does not constitute a "court order" requiring the disclosure of such confidential information.
Read the complete agreement as filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia