National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Sustainable Fisheries Coalition
82,553.00
Court
Office of the Assistant General Counsel for Employment, Litigation, and Information | Office of the General Counsel (commerce.gov)
Sustainable Fisheries Coalition brings this action to challenge NMFS' final rule implementing Amendment 8 to the Fishery Management Program for Atlantic Herring. Specifically, Plaintiff challenges the final rule implementing the exclusion of midwater trawl vessels engaged in herring and mackerel fishing in certain waters. Plaintiff alleges that the waters that will be closed to these vessels comprise an area that typically accounts for more than thirty percent of the Atlantic herring and mackerel fisheries annual revenues. Plaintiff claims that Amendment 8 is promulgated in excess of the Secretary's regulatory authority, and is inconsistent with the standards of reasoned decisionmaking in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.