Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/22-451_7m58.pdf
Page Number: 11.0

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

3 

Opinion of the Court 

§§1852(a),  (b).    The  councils  develop  fishery  management
plans, which NMFS approves and promulgates as final reg-
ulations.  See §§1852(h), 1854(a).  In service of the statute’s 
fishery conservation and management goals, see §1851(a), 
the MSA requires that certain provisions—such as “a mech-
anism for specifying annual catch limits . . . at a level such 
that overfishing does not occur,” §1853(a)(15)—be included 
in  these  plans,  see  §1853(a).    The  plans  may  also  include
additional discretionary provisions.  See §1853(b).  For ex-
ample, plans may “prohibit, limit, condition, or require the 
use of specified types and quantities of fishing gear, fishing 
vessels, or equipment,” §1853(b)(4); “reserve a portion of the
allowable biological catch of the fishery for use in scientific
“prescribe  such  other 
research,”  §1853(b)(11);  and 
measures,  requirements,  or  conditions  and  restrictions  as
are determined to be necessary and appropriate for the con-
servation and management of the fishery,” §1853(b)(14). 

Relevant here, a plan may also require that “one or more
observers be carried on board” domestic vessels “for the pur-
pose of collecting data necessary for the conservation and
management of the fishery.”  §1853(b)(8).  The MSA speci-
fies three groups that must cover costs associated with ob-
servers: (1) foreign fishing vessels operating within the ex-
clusive  economic  zone  (which  must  carry  observers),  see 
§§1821(h)(1)(A),  (h)(4),  (h)(6);  (2)  vessels  participating  in
certain  limited  access  privilege  programs,  which  impose
quotas permitting fishermen to harvest only specific quan-
tities  of  a  fishery’s  total  allowable  catch,  see  §§1802(26),
1853a(c)(1)(H), (e)(2), 1854(d)(2); and (3) vessels within the
jurisdiction of the North Pacific Council, where many of the
largest and most successful commercial fishing enterprises
in the Nation operate, see §1862(a).  In the latter two cases, 
the  MSA  expressly  caps  the  relevant  fees  at  two  or  three 
percent of the value of fish harvested on the vessels.  See 
§§1854(d)(2)(B),  1862(b)(2)(E).  And  in  general,  it  author-