Source: https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/127-f-3d-104-594287770
Timestamp: 2020-07-11 15:40:34
Document Index: 405759209

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1801', '§ 1852', '§ 1853', '§ 1851', '§ 1854', '§ 1854', '§ 1854', '§ 1854', '§ 1855', '§ 1852']

127 F.3d 104 (1st Cir. 1997), 97-1327, Associated Fisheries of Maine, Inc. v. Daley - Federal Cases - Case Law - VLEX 594287770
127 F.3d 104 (1st Cir. 1997), 97-1327, Associated Fisheries of Maine, Inc. v. Daley
Docket Nº: 97-1327.
Citation: 127 F.3d 104
Party Name: ASSOCIATED FISHERIES OF MAINE, INC., Plaintiff, Appellant, v. William M. DALEY, Secretary of the United States Department Of Commerce, Defendant, Appellee.
Case Date: September 16, 1997
127 F.3d 104 (1st Cir. 1997)
ASSOCIATED FISHERIES OF MAINE, INC., Plaintiff, Appellant,
William M. DALEY, Secretary of the United States Department
Of Commerce, Defendant, Appellee.
Andrew C. Mergen, Attorney, Environment & Natural Resources Division, United States Department of Justice, with whom Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General,
David C. Shilton and Lyn Jacobs, Attorneys, and Gene Martin, Office of Regional Counsel, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Washington, DC, were on brief, for appellee.
Before SELYA, Circuit Judge, HILL, [*] Senior Circuit Judge, and BOUDIN, Circuit Judge.
Responding to depletion of the nation's fish stocks due to overfishing, Congress enacted the Magnuson Act in 1976 to protect fishery resources. See 16 U.S.C. § 1801(a). 1 The Act created eight regional fishery management councils, each of which has responsibility for fashioning a fishery management plan (FMP) to regulate commercial fishing within a particular geographic region. See id. §§ 1852(a)(1)-(8), 1852(h)(1). When a proposed FMP (or a plan amendment) is developed, the council must submit it to the Secretary for review. See id. § 1853(c). The Secretary then determines whether the proposed FMP is consistent not only with the Magnuson Act's seven national standards for fishery conservation and management, see id. § 1851(a)(1)-(7), but also with other applicable law, including the RFA, see id. §§ 1854(a)(1)(B), 1855(e). In making this determination, the Secretary must publish an appropriate notice, see id. § 1854(a)(1)(C), consider the comments engendered in response thereto, see id. § 1854(a)(2)(A), and consult with the Coast Guard anent enforcement, see id. § 1854(a)(2)(C). If the Secretary approves the amendment, he then promulgates final implementing regulations, which are subject to judicial review. See id. § 1855(b).
The New England Fishery Management Council (the Council) has authority over commercial fishing in the Atlantic Ocean off the New England coast. See id. § 1852(a)(1). Under its aegis, the management and conservation of the New England Groundfish Fishery has had a tangled history. See generally Peter Shelley et al., The New England Fisheries Crisis: What Have We Learned?, 9 Tul.Envtl.L.J. 221, 223-33 (1996). 2 When less intrusive efforts did not prevent overfishing, the Council developed the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan in 1985. The Secretary approved it only as a stopgap. Four amendments to the interim rule followed, none of which proved adequate. See Conservation Law Found. of New Eng., Inc. v. Franklin, 989 F.2d 54, 58 (1st Cir.1993). Litigation over the last of these amendments resulted in a consent decree. The decree established a timetable for adopting an FMP that would reverse the continuing depletion of cod, flounder, and haddock stocks within specified periods. See id.
The Secretary promulgated Amendment 7 as a final rule after notice and comment. See 61 Fed.Reg. 8540 (proposed rule) & 27,710 (1996) (final rule) (to be codified at 50 C.F.R. pt. 651). Among other things, Amendment 7 seeks to reduce ichthyic mortality rates and rebuild multispecies stocks by (1) setting annual "allowable catch" targets for regulated species, (2) orchestrating new area closures, and (3) implementing further DAS cutbacks (including acceleration of the reduction schedule originally established in Amendment 5). 3 Although the Secretary acknowledged the significant negative economic impacts (especially on trawl vessels) which Amendment 7 would invite, he concluded that conservation of the fishery would yield greater long-term benefits. See 61 Fed.Reg. at 27,731.
In the end, the court granted summary judgment in the Secretary's favor. See Associated Fisheries of Me., Inc. v. Daley, 954 F.Supp. 383 (D.Me.1997). As to issues that are relevant in this appeal, the court held that the newly enacted judicial review provisions of the RFA did not apply retroactively, and that, in all events, the Secretary had complied with the RFA. See id. at 386-87. The court also held that the Secretary's rulemaking did not run afoul of the Magnuson Act. See id. at 388-90. AFM now appeals. 4
An agency rule is arbitrary and capricious if the agency lacks a rational basis for adopting it--for example...