Tag Archives: thrown out

Waterfront businesses’ lawsuit against New Bedford and Port Authority dismissed

Marine Hydraulics and Nordic Fisheries sued the city in January, alleging it was breaching a 99-year lease contract and misleading the companies regarding the expansion of the North Terminal, located on the west side of the harbor. Nordic Fisheries bought Marine Hydraulics’ assets and lease in 2015 according to court records, but both companies filed the lawsuit. The city filed a motion to dismiss it in March. The businesses stated in their complaint that much of their work depends on immediate access to the water to haul, service and store vessels, and that without direct access, their companies would be irreparably harmed. >click to read< 10:05

Case against East End fisherman Bill Reed, charged with overfishing, thrown out

A Southampton judge on Friday dismissed a case mid-trial against an East End commercial fisherman charged with overfishing after he returned to port to avoid a storm. The case against Reed fell apart after Matthew Foster, an enforcement officer for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, and DEC official Steve Heins acknowledged on the witness stand that a “safe harbor” provision the agency uses to grant exceptions to its quota rules was “general practice” but never “written policy.” Read the rest here 16:40

Coakley lawsuit vs. NOAA thrown out – Judge recounted NOAA’s slick Bigelow/ Albatross transition!

shameCoakley took aim at the scientific data used by NOAA fisheries to set the allocations, charging that NOAA rejected an industry offer to conduct surveys that might have been at odds with NOAA’s official findings. But the court held that NOAA is under no obligation to go beyond the best available evidence to the best possible evidence. Read more here 14:36