On behalf of Gov. Deval Patrick, Attorney General Martha Coakley filed an amicus brief backing the lawsuit's contention that Amendment 16 to the Magnuson-Stevens Act violated the law in at least four ways.

The state is asking Federal District Court Judge Rya Zobel to send the issue of annual catch limits back to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke for upward recalculation. The brief argues the annual catch limits now do not reflect the "optimal yield" that the law demands for the fishing industry but rather sets the limits artificially and damagingly low.

The two fishing ports, filing suit last summer, asked for a wider array of remedies, including declaring that Amendment 16 is illegal, that Commerce reimburse the cities' legal expenses, that Amendment 16 be suspended, that Commerce undertake a thorough economic analysis of various alternatives and not just one plan, and anything else the court may deem appropriate.

Coakley told The Standard-Times that the narrower appeal is the result of limitations on the state's participation as a friend of the court and not a party in the case.

Read the complete story from The Standard-Times.