Web posted Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Breaking News
Court holds firm on limiting waste of fish

By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce

A federal district court in Washington, D.C., has blocked efforts by bottom trawl vessel owners to overturn rules limiting the amount of fish they can discard in pursuit of more valuable harvests.

The summary judgment order issued by U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson March 20 halted efforts by two Washington state bottom trawling companies to overturn a federal regulation scheduled to take effect in 2008.

Conservation groups, who have been protesting for years the massive dumping of fish and other marine life, hailed the decision as a victory.

“The reality that hundreds of millions of pounds of wasted fish and other marine life are thrown over the side of bottom trawl vessels every year is completely unacceptable to most Alaskans,” said Dorothy Childers, program director for the community-based Alaska Marine Conservation Council. “Management measures that set at least a minimum standard for reducing excessive waste in the Bering Sea fleet are long overdue.”

An attorney for the bottom trawlers said he was reviewing the judge’s decision and has not yet decided what further action to take.

The new federal regulation, known as Amendment 79, requires certain Being Sea and Aleutian Island bottom trawl catcher/processor vessels that are longer than 125 feet to retain an increasing portion of their overall catch. Amendment 79 requires the vessels to start retaining 65 percent of their catch in 2008 and increase retention to 85 percent by 2011.

Plaintiffs Legacy Fishing Co., of Bellingham, Wash., and the Fishing Company of Alaska, based in Seattle, alleged that the amendment violated the Administrative Procedures Act, the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act, and the Regulatory Flexibility Act.

David Frulla, a Washington, D.C., attorney representing the two fishing firms, said he is reviewing the decision and hasn’t decided yet whether to appeal.
“Clearly we are disappointed,” he said.

Frulla said new monitoring and enforcement requirements added by the National Marine Fisheries Service after the North Pacific Fishery Management Council finished its work on reducing the amount of fish wasted would have a financial impact on his clients.  

Companies like Fishing Company of Alaska will have to make major changes in their production lines, he said. Frulla also argued that the Legacy’s vessel, “which is just a little bigger than 125 feet, the cut-off for groundfish retention standards ... is too small to be able to comply. You need to look at the capacity of the vessel rather than the length,” he said.

The Legacy, a 132-foot vessel, targets high-quality, low-volume groundfish such as rock sole, rex sole and Pacific cod, mostly for sale in Asian restaurant and sushi markets, according to court documents. The six larger vessels owned by Fishing Company of Alaska harvest Atka mackerel, yellowfin sole, rock sole and rockfish in a high-volume fishery.

Conservation groups intervened in the lawsuit filed by the bottom trawlers against U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez to defend the federal bycatch regulation. They told the court that the federal government is right to mandate a decrease in the amount of fish bottom trawlers are currently throwing overboard.

“The court has ruled that these companies will not be allowed to continue wasting public resources,” said Michael LeVine, an attorney for Earthjustice. “This case deals with a few large vessels that still haven’t turned the corner into 21st century fishing.”

Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com.

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