Tag Archives: Otter-Free Zone
California Fishermen’s Fight for Otter-Free Zone Advances
Fishing industry groups fighting for a “no-otter” zone along the southern coast of California can advance their claims, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday, reversing a district court decision to dismiss the case. The Ninth Circuit’s ruling found that four fishing industry groups’ 2013 challenge to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s authority to end a sea otter translocation program was not barred by the statute of limitations. The Ninth Circuit did not rule on the merits of the case, instead asserting that the case should not have been dismissed from federal court on the timeliness issue. “The operative agency action challenged is the 2012 program termination, and thus that plaintiffs’ challenge is timely,” U.S. Circuit Judge Ronald Gould wrote for the three-judge panel. “We express no opinion on the merits of plaintiffs’ underlying claims.” The underlying dispute stems from a long and fractious battle between environmentalists advocating on behalf of sea otters and fishing industry groups claiming that allowing the mammals unfettered access to coastal areas would compromise or even destroy shellfish fisheries along California’s southern coast. Read the rest here 10:36
California’s Shellfish Industry Fight to Restore Otter-Free Zone
California’s shellfish industry fought the federal government’s termination of a “no-otter zone” along the Southern California coast at a Ninth Circuit hearing on Friday. Four fishing industry groups sued the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in 2013, claiming its decision to end a long-disputed sea otter translocation program would “severely compromise if not destroy” shellfish and other marine fisheries on the southern coast. Nixing the program would lead more than 300 sea otters to occupy a previously “otter-free zone” within 10 years and prey on the shellfish which fishermen depend on for their livelihood, the plaintiffs claimed in their 2013 complaint. But environmental groups had long pushed for the government to end the program, claiming it was a disaster from the start and that it bowed to the interests of the oil and fishing industries. Read the rest here 07:58
