The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down every one of a number of arguments the cities and their co-plaintiffs in the industry made in their appeal. The court upheld a 2011 lower court decision in the suit brought by the two ports as well as fishermen and fishing groups. Broadly speaking, the court ruled that the government stayed within the letter and spirit of the 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Act, which was designed to end overfishing in the Northeast.
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121129/NEWS/211290345
Court rejects Mass. ports’ suit against fish law-Cape Cod Times
BOSTON – A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected claims by New England’s two largest fishing ports that federal regulators improperly enacted fishing rules that they say are wiping out local fleets.
Attorney Stephen Ouellette, who represented the New Hampshire Commercial Fishermen’s Association, “The fishery is now available to the highest bidder,”
Peter Shelley, senior counsel of the Conservation Law Foundation, which intervened on behalf of the government, said the plaintiffs’ claims “bordered on frivolous” and amounted to a “political sideshow.”
Read the official ruling here Read the background on the case and appeal here
