Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/22-451_7m58.pdf
Page Number: 13.0

Cite as:  603 U. S. ____ (2024) 

5 

Opinion of the Court 

the  Administrative  Procedure  Act  (APA),  5  U. S. C.  §551 
et seq.  In relevant part, they argued that the MSA does not
authorize NMFS to mandate that they pay for observers re-
quired by a fishery management plan.  The District Court 
granted  summary  judgment  to  the  Government.    It  con-
cluded  that  the  MSA  authorized  the  Rule,  but  noted  that 
even if these petitioners’ “arguments were enough to raise
an  ambiguity  in  the  statutory  text,”  deference  to  the 
agency’s interpretation would be warranted under Chevron. 
544 F. Supp. 3d 82, 107 (DC 2021); see id., at 103–107. 

A  divided  panel  of  the  D. C.  Circuit  affirmed.    See  45 
F. 4th  359  (2022).  The  majority  addressed  various  provi-
sions of the MSA and concluded that it was not “wholly un-
ambiguous”  whether  NMFS  may  require  Atlantic  herring
fishermen to pay for observers.  Id., at 366.  Because there 
remained  “some  question”  as  to  Congress’s  intent,  id.,  at 
369, the court proceeded to Chevron’s second step and de-
ferred to the agency’s interpretation as a “reasonable” con-
struction of the MSA, 45 F. 4th, at 370.  In dissent, Judge
Walker  concluded  that  Congress’s  silence  on  industry 
funded observers for the Atlantic herring fishery—coupled 
with the express provision for such observers in other fish-
eries and on foreign vessels—unambiguously indicated that 
NMFS  lacked  the  authority  to  “require  [Atlantic  herring]
fishermen to pay the wages of at-sea monitors.”  Id., at 375. 

C 
Petitioners Relentless Inc., Huntress Inc., and Seafreeze 
Fleet LLC own two vessels that operate in the Atlantic her-
ring  fishery:  the  F/V  Relentless  and  the  F/V  Persistence.1 
These  vessels  use  small-mesh  bottom-trawl  gear  and  can 
freeze fish at sea, so they can catch more species of fish and
take longer trips than other vessels (about 10 to 14 days, as 

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1 For any landlubbers, “F/V” is simply the designation for a fishing ves-

sel.