Tag Archives: federal court
N.L. fishing companies in tug of war over towing bill
The dispute between Ocean Choice International and Newfound Resources has now reached the Federal Court, with one vessel being arrested by sheriffs last week, and both sides accusing the other of wrongdoing. Newfound has gone to court, trying to recover the nearly $270,000 plus HST it says it is owed by Ocean Choice, while Ocean Choice has paid $200,000 to Newfound, and is refusing to hand over any more cash, saying the bill is excessive. It all started Jan. 30, while the Newfoundland Lynx was harvesting shrimp for Ocean Choice in the Hopedale Channel, off the coast of Labrador. The Lynx lost propulsion in ice-infested water and issued a distress call. The Canadian Coast Guard was unable to respond, so the Newfoundland Victor, which harvests Newfound’s shrimp quota and was fishing nearby, came to its aid. >click to read< 09:09
Federal court rules fisheries officials didn’t do enough to protect right whales from lobster gear
A federal court on Friday ruled in favor of environmental groups that had filed a lawsuit against the government and the Maine Lobstermen’s Association claiming federal fisheries officials had failed to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales from potentially fatal entanglements in lobster fishing gear, records show. A judge ruled that NOAA Fisheries had violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act when it issued a May 2021 biological opinion and a September 2021 final rule because officials had not done enough to reduce the lobster fishery’s threat to right whales, the plaintiffs in the suit said in a statement. >click to read< 18:00
Turtle excluders
A federal court in Louisiana granted Attorney General Jeff Landry’s request to preliminarily enjoin implementation of a National Marine Fisheries Service’s rule requiring “Turtle Excluder Devices” on certain skimmer trawl boats operating in inshore waters. Landry’s office called it a “major win” for shrimpers, which were having difficulty complying with the rule due to pandemic-related supply chain issues. >click to read the order< 16:55
Ocean polluters seek to have convictions overturned
A father-son team that was convicted of polluting Puget Sound and the ocean have asked a judge to toss their convictions. In Seattle federal court on Friday, Bingham Fox asked the judge to throw out his conviction for violating the Clean Water Act. His attorney accused the government of “prosecutorial misconduct.” Fox and his son Randall Fox were convicted of pumping oily bilge water from their 80 fishing vessel “Native Sun.” A deckhand provided the US Coast Guard with a video showing a makeshift pump that pumped engine oil overboard while the vessel was in Blaine harbor. Federal law requires commercial vessels to filter out engine oil and dispose of it properly on shore, which costs time and money. click here to read the story 09:12
Marine Harvest Canada appeals recent aquaculture regulations court decision
The company cites errors in fact and law as grounds for the appeal. The appeal has been filed on a number of grounds, including significant factual errors Justice Rennie made in his findings, according to a Marine Harvest press release. In its appeal, the company says that Justice Rennie erred in law by not placing the evidentiary onus on the applicant to show that the aquaculture license conditions were unreasonable, and the judge applied the wrong standard of review, replacing the Minister of Fisheries’ view of what may be harmful with his own. Read the rest here 20:33
Feds to re-open herring fishery, over scientist and Aboriginal objections
A federal court struck down a legal attack by coastal B.C. First Nations attempting to overturn the federal Conservative fishing minister’s decision to re-open herring fisheries in coastal waters. Controversially, the court heard that Minister Gail Shea, a Conservative MLA from PEI, made the decision against the views of her own federal scientists. The Minister was not immediately available for comment late Friday. Read the rest here 22:55
