Coalition Files Several Briefs With the Court
A tremendous amount of good work by the Halibut Defense Alliance and others culminated in the defendants' briefs being filed June 27: from the Department of Justice for NMFS, and from the intervenors for the defense, the 12 members of HDA.
All told, the following documents were filed:
- Intervenor-Defendants' Response in Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment
- Federal Defendants' Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment and Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment
- an amicus brief filed on behalf of Alaska Senator Sullivan and Representative Peltola
- State of Alaska's Motion and Memorandum in Support of Motion to Allow Filing of Amicus Curiae Brief
- Amicus brief filed on behalf of Cordova District Fishermen United, the Prince William Sound Economic Development District, the Kodiak Archipelago Rural Regional Leadership Forum and five individuals, attaching resolutions from the City of Cordova, Petersburg Borough, the City of Adak, the City and Borough of Sitka, the City of Homer and the City of Seldovia
The Halibut Defense Alliance is tremendously grateful for the brilliant attorneys who produced the briefs, the Senator and Representative, and the State of Alaska.
We were fortunate to have dedicated intervenors, Tribes, office holders and other stakeholders in coastal communities across Alaska who worked persistently to propose and pass the resolutions of support and form agreements to sponsor the community amicus brief.
Thank you all for helping Pacific halibut have their day in court.
Coalition Intervenes in Litigation to Defend Limits on Halibut Bycatch by Trawlers
February 29, 2024 -- A broad coalition of commercial fishermen, charter operators, processors and community organizations representing the wide range of halibut-dependent communities across Alaska and the Pacific Northwest have intervened in litigation filed by the “Amendment 80” groundfish trawlers to defend new regulations that limit halibut bycatch in the Bering Sea. Members of the coalition — known as the Halibut Defense Alliance — are intervening on the side of the National Marine Fisheries Service to combat a legal challenge by trawlers that seeks to strike down the new rules.
The new halibut bycatch rules were adopted with broad support by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service in 2023. The new rules impose commonsense limits on halibut bycatch — allowing more bycatch when halibut abundance is high and less bycatch when abundance is low. They are critical to conserving halibut in the Bering Sea and beyond and will ensure more equitable access to the halibut fisheries by fishermen, tribes, and communities.
The Amendment 80 fleet is the single largest source of halibut bycatch in the Bering Sea and is responsible for the overwhelming majority of halibut bycatch across all trawl fisheries. Nearly 90% of its bycatch in recent years has been concentrated in known halibut nursery habitat in the Bering Sea. Excessive bycatch in these areas harms the halibut population all along the coast because the juvenile halibut the Amendment 80 fleet kills will not mature, reproduce, or migrate to other areas.
Halibut is an iconic species that holds tremendous economic, social and cultural significance along the entire Pacific coast. Alliance members are committed to sound fisheries management and wise use of the halibut resource. Members have been leaders in the 12-year fight to limit halibut bycatch in the Bering Sea, where they have advocated for “abundance-based” bycatch management since 2016.
Setting fishery limits based on abundance is a fundamental fisheries management concept: catch limits go up when abundance is high and go down when abundance is low. While all halibut fishermen have been held to this standard, the Amendment 80 fleet of bottom trawlers was not. Instead, the Amendment 80 fleet was allowed to kill large amounts of halibut regardless of the status of the halibut population. The new rules correct this inequity and protect community-based fisheries.
Despite halibut numbers declining to historically low levels, a trade association representing the Amendment 80 fleet has challenged the bycatch limits, asking a federal court in Alaska to overturn them. They ask the court to reinstate antiquated and excessive bycatch limits that would allow the fleet to kill more halibut as bycatch than are allowed to be removed by commercial halibut fishermen in the central, northern, and eastern Bering Sea combined. This would place the burden of conserving halibut exclusively on the halibut fleet and threaten the future of diverse businesses and communities that depend on halibut for subsistence, economic and cultural values.
The halibut fisheries’ future depends on sustainable, abundance-based management. Halibut are central to the cultures, traditions and lifestyles of fishery participants, from fishery dependent Alaska Native communities, commercial fishermen working in a historic and iconic fishery, to subsistence halibut users, and those who hope for a once-in-a-lifetime Alaska sportfishing experience.
– 30 –
For additional information contact:
Heather McCarty