BOSTON – Feb. 5, 2011 – Yesterday, shortly before Federal District Court Judge Rya Zobel issued a number of orders in the case of City of New Bedford, et. al. v. Honorable Gary Locke, etc. et al., the Georges Bank Cod Fixed Gear Sector filed a motion to Participate as Amicus Curiae in the litigation.
The Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association (CCCHFA) website describes the Georges Bank Cod Fixed Gear Sector as a "pioneer of the sector system." According to the CCCHFA, "the Hook Association established its first 'harvesting cooperative' for fishermen using hook gear in 2004. A second Hook-sponsored sector, comprised of fishermen using both hooks and gillnets, was approved in 2006. This year, the two groups combined to form the Georges Bank Fixed Gear Sector."
The Georges Bank Fixed Gear Sector is represented by EarthJustice, of 1625 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036. Attorneys Roger Fleming, Erica Fuller and Stephen Roady of EarthJustice filed, the motion. The attorneys from EarthJustice also requested permission to participate if oral argument takes place.
Although the brief focuses primarily on the preservation of the Sector's allocation as set up in Amendment 13, the brief broadly states opposition to the plaintiffs' entire case, stating the "Georges Bank Cod Fixed Gear Sector’s (“Fixed Gear Sector”) believes that Defendants have ably showed that all of the Plaintiffs’ claims are without merit."
The brief continues "the members of the Fixed Gear Sector are small-boat fishermen who pioneered the first two sectors in New England, the other being the Georges Bank Cod Hook Sector (“Hook Sector”) …. the outcome of this case could directly affect the interests of members of the Sector. Both of these sectors were approved by NMFS and received allocations of Georges Bank cod prior to the implementation of the MSRA on January 12, 2007. Because the Plaintiffs’ complaints are drawn broadly and fail to fully recognize that the sectors and the allocations implemented under Amendment 13 are different from the Amendment 16 sectors and allocations, the Fixed Gear Sector seeks to ensure that the claims are fully understood and that any relief granted with respect to Amendment 16 is not inadvertently applied to the Fixed Gear Sector, the Hook Sector, or these sectors’ allocations of Georges Bank cod."
According to the memorandum accompanying the brief "…the Fixed Gear Sector fishermen have a unique interest in this litigation, which manifests itself in several ways. For example, not only are Plaintiffs challenging the Amendment 16 changes to the sector rules for the fishery overall, but they also have specifically challenged the Fixed Gear Sector’s baseline allocation of Georges Bank cod by claiming it is based on a “shorter qualifying timeframe, which significantly and inequitably increased their relative allocations” in violation of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. See NB Mem. Supp. Summ. J. at 8, 15-16. New Bedford’s claim is not only legally flawed but it is also inaccurate in at least two ways — it both suggests that the Fixed Gear Sectors’ allocation was somehow increased in Amendment 16, and asserts that the shorter qualifying period applies to all of the groundfish allocations made to the Fixed Gear Sector in Amendment 16, instead of solely to the longstanding Georges Bank cod allocation made years ago in Amendment 13. Without the participation of the Fixed Gear Sector fishermen as amicus curiae, their specific interest in their sector allocations will not be adequately represented in issues such as this, and their familiarity and knowledge of sector-related issues will not be available to the Court."
Read the Motion of Georges Bank Cod Fixed Gear Sector for leave to participate as amicus curiae
Read the amicus brief of the Georges Bank Cod Fixed Gear Sector
Read a description of the Georges Bank Cod Fixed Gear Sector from NOAA Fisheries Service (NMFS)