July 21, 2025 — Sometimes, a little sunlight does some good. As I reported last month, even while Pam Bondi’s Justice Department has been treating Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo as a victory for conservative and MAGA critics of the administrative state, career lawyers at the DOJ were continuing to defend the very Commerce Department fishing-monitor regulation at issue in Loper Bright and its companion case, Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce. On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled in favor of the government in Relentless, concluding that the Commerce Department could saddle fishing boats with the cost of monitors even without any authorization in the statutory text for charging them such a fee: “The default norm, manifest without express statement in literally hundreds of regulations, is that the government does not reimburse regulated entities for the cost of complying with properly enacted regulations, at least short of a taking.” Never mind that this isn’t a matter of the boats bearing the costs of their own compliance with rules, but of paying a regulatory agent for the government. The judge also found that, because the Magnuson-Stevens Act gives the agency “necessary and appropriate” powers, this “in no uncertain terms, delegates . . . a large degree of discretionary authority.” Actually, a term could hardly be more uncertain, and the whole point of Loper Bright is that agency discretion is about policy — not the interpretation of the law.
Court upholds rule requiring fishing boat owners to pay regulators
July 18, 2025 — A federal court has upheld the government’s ability to require commercial fishing boat owners to pay for monitors aboard their vessels, a year after the Supreme Court took up the case and broadly curbed federal agencies’ authority.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island ruled Tuesday that a NOAA Fisheries rule was lawful under the primary U.S. fisheries law, the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA).
Senior Judge William Smith said the court must exercise its independent judgment on whether an agency acted within its authority.
Fishermen’s Case That Overturned Chevron Sees Agency Rule Upheld
July 17, 2025 — Atlantic herring fishermen failed to overturn a National Marine Fisheries Service rule requiring vessels to pay onboard compliance monitors’ costs in a case that joined Loper Bright v. Raimondo in rolling back agency deference at the US Supreme Court.
The US District Court for the District of Rhode Island upheld the agency’s interpretation of the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Act’s vessel observer requirements on Tuesday, offering an early indication of how much courts may exercise independent judgment in determining if the government conducted “reasoned decisionmaking.”
“Congress explicitly delegated discretionary authority,” to the NMFS to issue rules that the agency deems “necessary and appropriate for the conservation and management of the fishery,” and Judge William E. Smith ruled industry-funded monitoring fits within those parameters.
The Supreme Court included a discretionary delegation caveat in the Loper Bright decision last June, which overturned the longstanding Chevron doctrine requiring courts to defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statute. The cases were remanded to their respective appeals courts, and the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit sent this case back to district court.
US delays rule on Gulf of Mexico whale protections by two years
July 15, 2025 — U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration will delay by two years a final rule designating protections for the endangered Rice’s whale in the oil and gas drilling region of the Gulf of Mexico, according to an agreement with environmental groups filed in a federal court.
The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Marine Fisheries Service agreed with green group Natural Resources Defense Council to finalize by July 15, 2027 the geographic area deemed critical for the Rice’s whale survival. The previous deadline had been Tuesday, July 15, of this year.
The agreement filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on July 3 was seen by Reuters on Monday.
In court filing, Trump administration hints at a lifeline for embattled Pebble project
July 14, 2025 — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took a rare step under former President Joe Biden to block development of the Pebble mine, Alaska’s largest known copper and gold deposit, which for years has fueled controversy over its potential impacts on one of the world’s largest salmon runs.
Now, under President Donald Trump, the agency is giving its past Pebble decisions another look and negotiating a deal that could end a lawsuit filed by Pebble’s developer — an announcement that’s boosted the company’s stock price this week.
Administration officials “have been actively considering the agency decisions” and are “open to reconsideration,” according to a recent court filing submitted by U.S. Department of Justice lawyers. The three-page document does not elaborate, though it references the past decision by the EPA and a separate decision by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to deny Pebble a key permit.
Ninth Circuit maintains protected status for arctic ringed seals
July 14, 2025 — The Ninth Circuit on Friday affirmed a lower court’s order blocking the state of Alaska’s efforts to delist ringed seals under the Endangered Species Act.
“National Marine Fisheries Service reasonably determined that new climate change projections were consistent with those it had considered at the time of its 2012 listing decision,” wrote the panel in a five-page order.
Joe Biden-appointed U.S. Circuit Judges Holly Thomas and Ana de Alba joined Bill Clinton-appointed Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Jed Rakoff on the panel that reviewed the case and published a per curiam opinion.
The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the federal government in 2008 seeking to protect the ringed seal, Pusa hispida, along with the bearded seal, Erignathus barbatus, and the spotted seal, Phoca largha, under the Endangered Species Act.
Citing the increasing strain of climate change, the federal government granted the ringed seal protected status in 2012, which the Ninth Circuit first affirmed four years later.
The state of Alaska petitioned and then sued the National Marine Fisheries Service, seeking to delist the marine mammal on Nov. 15, 2022.
The state known as the Last Frontier criticized the wildlife protections that span hundreds of millions of acres, interfering with the North Slope’s industrial economy as well as hunting.
Court affirms split federal-state Cook Inlet salmon management system
July 14, 2025 — A federal judge has upheld the National Marine Fisheries Service’s new system to manage commercial harvests in federal waters of Cook Inlet, concluding that the agency has no obligation to extend that management to state waters.
The July 1 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason lets stand a split federal-state management regime for commercial salmon harvests in Cook Inlet, the marine waters by Alaska’s most heavily populated region.
The ruling is a win for the NMFS, an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and a loss for fishers who sought federal management of all Cook Inlet commercial salmon harvests because they were dissatisfied with state management.
NMFS had previously deferred all Cook Inlet commercial salmon harvest management to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Fulton Fish Market joins lawsuit against Empire Wind
July 11, 2025 — The Fulton Fish Market Cooperative in New York, the nation’s largest seafood market, has signed onto a federal lawsuit brought by commercial fishermen and coastal activists opposing Equinor’s ongoing Empire Wind offshore energy project.
Operators of the Fulton market, including 23 member companies that move more than 5 million tons of seafood through their Bronx location weekly, are the newest plaintiffs in an amended complaint filed July 4 with the U.S. District Court for New Jersey.
With the Trump administration allowing Equinor to proceed with construction, it’s clear “that this administration is aware offshore wind is nothing but a greenwashing shell game that will industrialize our oceans and kill longstanding American port communities and economies,” Fulton CEO Nicole Ackerina said in a joint statement July 9 with other plaintiffs.
Federal judge upholds state control in Cook Inlet salmon fishery management dispute
July 7, 2025 — US District Judge Sharon Gleason has ruled in favor of the National Marine Fisheries Service, upholding Amendment 16 to the federal salmon fishery management plan and confirming the agency’s authority to regulate only federal waters in the Cook Inlet Exclusive Economic Zone.
The decision is a legal victory for the State of Alaska, preserving state jurisdiction over nearshore salmon fisheries and reinforcing the state’s role in sustainable resource management.
The ruling stems from a legal challenge to Amendment 16, which clarified NMFS’s decision to manage salmon fishing in federal waters — waters beyond three miles from shore. But the amendment did not grant authority over Alaska’s state waters.
The plaintiffs in the case — United Cook Inlet Drift Association and Cook Inlet Fishermen’s Fund — argued that the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act required a unified approach across both federal and state jurisdictions to effectively manage salmon stocks. They also claimed NMFS’s actions violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
US court sets deadline for NOAA to make ESA decisions on Chinook salmon
July 1, 2025 — Following a lawsuit filed by a coalition of conservation groups, a U.S. district court has set deadlines for NOAA Fisheries to determine whether some Chinook salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest should be protected by the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
NOAA Fisheries must now make a decision on Oregon Coast and Southern Oregon/Northern California coastal Chinook by 3 November 2025 and on Washington coast spring-run Chinook by 2 January 2026.
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