Four Alaska charter companies and Charter Operators of Alaska challenged as arbitrary and capricious a new federal regulation to limit the number of charter boats in Alaska. The new rule is expected to put 327 fishing operations out of business. A motion for a preliminary injunction against the rule seeks to prohibit the U.S. Department of Commerce from enforcing the regulation until the courts can rule on its legality.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service earlier this year imposed a charter halibut permit program designed to shut down about a third of the halibut charters that fished state waters last year. The NOAA program is designed to limit competition between the charter operators, whose clients catch about 10 percent of Alaska's halibut, and commercial interests that catch more than 80 percent.

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