Tag Archives: 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

U.S. Court of Appeals Rules Against New Bedford & Gloucester et al- Sides with Feds and Special Interests

November 29, 2012   Mid Atlantic, New England

        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.”

He said with two unambiguous court rulings in the government’s favor, there should be no doubt now that the fishing law is legal. “The challenge now is to get this fishery functioning in the way it ought to be functioning,” Shelley said.

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121129/NEWS11/121129728

Read the official ruling here  Read the background on the case and appeal here

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