The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projects that the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction has "no likelihood" of winning its federal court appeal of a 10-day shutdown order "on the merits," so NOAA is urging a federal judge not to put off imposing the penalty.
NOAA’s opposition to the auction’s motion for a preliminary injuction was expected. It was filed Friday in a swirl of events including a judicial inquiry into federal government anti-auction publicity and an inspector general’s investigation into claims of vindictive motivation for legal action against the auction.
But the events appear to be accelerating toward a scheduled showdown next week in NOAA’s decade-long and oft-frustrated effort to punish the auction for alleged violations of the Magnuson Act, the federal fishery conservation and management law.
Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.