NEW BEDFORD — 8 March 2012 – Government attorneys Wednesday doubled down on their arguments in the lawsuit challenging co-op sector management and catch shares in the New England commercial fishery.
In their formal reply to a federal court appeal by New Bedford, Gloucester and a host of fishing interests, Commerce Department attorneys insisted the National Marine Fisheries Service did nothing wrong when it introduced sector management without a referendum among those affected.
Nor, the attorneys argued, did the government sidestep the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Act by manipulating the meaning of words such as "permits" and "limited access permit programs."
Magnuson, the government attorneys said, explicitly rules out sectors — which are groups of boat owners who pool their allocations — from any kind of referendum requirement. Since a referendum would require a super-majority, the government is being accused of using semantics to evade a vote on an unpopular idea.
But the lawsuit contends that the term "sectors," — first used in a trial program on Cape Cod several years ago — had a very different new meaning under the new rules.
The new system bears little resemblance to what Congress thought of as sectors at the time, the lawsuit says. The government counters that the differences are minor.
Read the complete story from The Standard-Times.
Read the brief by the Federal Government
Read the brief by the Conservation Law Foundation
Read the original appeal by the Cities of New Bedford and Gloucester et al