Tag Archives: U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
Fishermen fear future fishery management, delisting in SE Alaska
Chinook fishermen are celebrating the start of the 2023 summer troll season in Southeast Alaska after months of lawsuits and uncertainty blocked the fishery. Since the fishery opened two weeks ago, fishermen, some based in Bellingham, have been out in droves, keeping the $85 million industry afloat for another season. But the celebration, some say, may be premature. Fishermen across the region are keeping a close eye on the final decision in the lawsuit, anticipated later this year, and they expect more legal challenges next year. “I’m worried this is going to happen again and again and again and again,” Whatcom resident and fisherman Michael Jackson said from the deck of his fishing vessel in Alaskan waters. “To have this [fishery] turned into a political argument, and shut down people’s livelihoods, it makes me sick. It makes me absolutely sick.” >click to read< 11:51
California fishermen win key ruling over Delta water supply
A group of commercial fishermen won a potentially significant court ruling in the seemingly endless battle over California’s water supply and the volumes of water pumped south through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. A federal appeals court last week ruled that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which delivers water from the Delta via the federal Central Valley Project, violated federal environmental law by renewing a series of two-year delivery contracts for south-of-Delta agricultural customers. The court said the bureau should have given “full and meaningful consideration” to the idea of reducing the amount of water available for delivery in the contracts. The ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals won’t void any of the supply contracts, said Stephan Volker, an Oakland lawyer representing the fishermen. But it could force the Bureau of Reclamation eventually to reduce the amount of Central Valley Project water pumped through the Delta to farmers and leave more water in the estuary to help endangered fish species. Read the rest here 16:51
