Brooks Law Digest: Fishing

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed Senate Bill 680, the Kristin Jacobs Ocean Conservation Act, into law. The law limits the import and sale of shark fins to those commercial entities with existing permits and requires that the state conduct a sustainability study on shark finning in Florida.

A California judge has ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration violated the Magnuson Stevens Act when it approved a fishing limit for anchovies with an indefinite time frame instead of considering the best and most recent science.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has issued a final rule opening eight National Wildlife Refuges for the first time and re-opening or expanding 89 other National Wildlife Refuges to hunting and sport fishing. The rule is effective immediately.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is seeking information on nations whose vessels are engaging in illegal, unreported, or unregulated fishing, bycatch of protection living marine resources, and fishing activities in waters beyond national jurisdiction that target or incidentally catch sharks. The agency is collecting information until December 31, 2020.

Groups including the Conservation Law Foundation, National Resources Defense Council, and the Center for Biological Diversity have filed suit against the Trump administration, challenging the President’s rescission of a fishing ban in a marine monument off the coast of Cape Cod.

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Animal Welfare Institute have filed suit against the Department of Interior for failing to respond to a 2014 petition seeking increased sanctions against Mexico for turning a blind eye to illegal fishing operations that further threaten the vaquita, an endangered porpoise.

A federal magistrate has ruled that Wild Fish Conservancy’s bid for an injunction to halt commercial salmon fishing off the coast of Alaska was lodged too late. The request arose out of a lawsuit challenging the government’s decision to allow fishing on the basis that it threatened the local endangered orca whale population.

President Trump has lifted a fishing ban in a marine monument about 130 miles off the coast of Cape Cod.

Washington state has filed suit against Starkist, parent company Dongwon Industries, and the CEO of Bumble Bee Foods, alleging that the defendants conspired to artificially increase the price of tuna.

Sea Shepherd has filed suit against a variety of federal agencies, alleging that the agencies’ failure to ban imports from certain fisheries in New Zealand that cause harm to endangered dolphins violates the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.