Opinion ID: 3037886
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: “Stock of Fish” under the Magnuson Act

Text: Plaintiffs’ primary claim is that the Magnuson Act forbids the NMFS to distinguish between natural and hatchery spawners for the purposes of Klamath chinook management and conservation. In the view of plaintiffs, the NMFS must count hatchery spawners towards any escapement goal for Klamath chinook. If this were required, an escapement goal would be satisfied much more easily with less restrictive management measures. The practical impact of their argument, plaintiffs hope, is that fishermen would be allowed to catch more salmon in the Klamath Management Zone. The 1989 regulation, setting a 35,000 natural spawner escapement floor, is designed to ensure that a certain number of naturally spawning fish survive, not that a certain number of naturally spawned fish survive. There is substantial overlap between the categories of salmon spawning in the wild (naturally spawning) and salmon born in the wild (naturally spawned), but the categories are not identical. Some hatcheryborn salmon will spawn in the wild, and some salmon born in the wild will spawn in a hatchery. Consistent with the 1989 regulation, the Council defines natural spawners as “age-three or older fall chinook that spawn outside of the hatchery environment, regardless of their origin.” Ocean Abundance Projections and Prospective Harvest Levels for Klamath River Fall Chinook, 2005 Season, at 2 (Feb. 2005), available at http://www.pcouncil.org. Plaintiffs contend that the categories of naturally spawning and hatchery spawning Klamath chinook are part of the same “stock of fish” under the Magnuson Act. In their view, the NMFS may not manage members of the same “stock of fish” separately, or treat them differently for conservation purposes. For the reasons that follow, we disagree. [4] A “fishery” is defined under the Magnuson Act as OREGON TROLLERS v. GUTIERREZ 7407 (A) one or more stocks of fish which can be treated as a unit for purposes of conservation and management and which are identified on the basis of geographical, scientific, technical, recreational, and economic characteristics; and (B) any fishing for such stocks. 16 U.S.C. § 1802(13) (emphasis added). A “stock of fish” is “a species, subspecies, geographical grouping or other category of fish capable of management as a unit.” Id. § 1802(37) (emphasis added). Plaintiffs make two arguments why naturally spawning Klamath chinook are not a separate “stock of fish” within the meaning of § 1802(37). First, they point out that natural and hatchery spawners swim side-by-side in the years between their departure from the river as juveniles and their return as adults. They also point out that the 2005 management measures, in their effort to meet the 35,000 natural spawner escapement floor, limit the overall catch of chinook without distinguishing between natural and hatchery spawners. They argue from these two undisputed facts that natural spawning Klamath chinook are not a “category of fish capable of being managed as a unit” within the meaning of § 1802(37) and are hence not a “stock of fish.” [5] We see nothing in the Magnuson Act to compel this understanding of the term “stock.” A “category” is “any of several fundamental and distinct classes to which entities or concepts belong,” or “a division within a system of classification.” Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 180 (10th ed. 1998); see also Aid Ass’n for Lutherans v. USPS, 321 F.3d 1166, 1176 (D.C. Cir. 2003) (considering dictionary definition to determine if agency’s interpretation of a statute is reasonable). There is nothing in the Act to suggest that natural spawners are not a “division” or “distinct class,” and hence a “category,” of Klamath chinook. 7408 OREGON TROLLERS v. GUTIERREZ [6] The term “stock” is commonly used and generally understood in fisheries management to allow a distinction between natural and hatchery spawners. The NMFS routinely distinguishes between natural and hatchery stocks in other regulatory contexts. See, e.g., 70 Fed. Reg. 37204, 37208 (June 28, 2005) (adopting hatchery policy under ESA). Similarly, a nonpartisan group of scientists established by Congress to propose hatchery policy differentiates between “hatchery stock” and “natural stock” on a regular basis. See, e.g., Hatchery Scientific Review Group, Hatchery Reform: Principles and Recommendations, at 17 (Apr. 2004); Hatchery Scientific Review Group, Hatchery Reform: Report to Congress, at 35 (Mar. 2006);2 Hatchery Scientific Review Group, Hatchery Reform in Washington State: Principles and Emerging Issues, Fisheries Magazine, June 2005, at 12. [7] Nor does the phrase “capable of management as a unit” preclude a distinction between natural and hatchery spawners. The NMFS has determined that “the choice of a management unit” may be decided on a number of different grounds; it “depends on the focus of the FMP’s objectives, and may be organized around biological, geographic, economic, technical, social, or ecological perspectives.” 50 C.F.R. § 600.320(d)(1). This host of possible bases for choosing a “management unit” indicates the term’s flexibility. Even assuming that the NMFS managed natural and hatchery spawners separately, plaintiffs do not identify anything in the statute or related regulations that would draw the line for the purposes of defining the appropriate “unit” at the distinction between natural and hatchery spawners. We also note that although the Magnuson Act does not expressly distinguish between natural and hatchery spawners, a closely related statute does. The Trinity River Basin Fish and Wildlife Management Reauthorization Act of 1996, Pub. 2 The Hatchery Scientific Reform Group’s reports are available at http:// www.lltk.org. OREGON TROLLERS v. GUTIERREZ 7409 L. No. 104-143, 110 Stat. 1338, a statute that regulates fisheries in one of the Klamath River’s main tributaries, refers to “naturally reproducing anadromous fish stocks.” Id. § 3, 110 Stat. 1339. The Senate Report on the statute, discussing a Trinity River hatchery, noted that support for the hatchery should “not impair[ ] efforts to restore and maintain naturally reproducing anadramous [sic] fish stocks . . . .” S. Rep. No. 104-253, at 3 (1996). This clear intent to distinguish between natural and hatchery fish sheds light on Congress’s wishes for the Magnuson Act. See Jett v. Dallas Indep. Sch. Dist., 491 U.S. 701, 738-39 (1989) (Scalia, J., concurring) (declaring that it is a “rudimentary principle[ ] of construction” that “statutes dealing with similar subjects should be interpreted harmoniously”). [8] In short, we see nothing in the Act to prevent the NMFS from regarding naturally spawning Klamath chinook as a “stock” of salmon within the meaning of § 1802(37), and to prevent the agency from adopting protective measures in an FMP to conserve this “stock.” Even without the assistance of Chevron deference, we would read the Act in this way. Our obligation to give Chevron deference to the NMFS’s interpretation of the Act that it is charged to administer removes any possible doubt. Second, plaintiffs rely on a district court decision interpreting the term “species” in the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) as a basis for interpreting the term “stock” in the Magnuson Act. The ESA requires the NMFS to protect “endangered” or “threatened species.” 16 U.S.C. § 1531(b). A “species” under the ESA includes “any distinct population segment . . . of any species of . . . fish . . . which interbreeds when mature.” Id. § 1532(16). In Alsea Valley Alliance v. Evans, 161 F. Supp. 2d 1154 (D. Or. 2001), the plaintiffs challenged the NMFS’s decision to list naturally spawning coho salmon as “threatened.” In making this determination, the agency ignored hatchery-spawning coho. See 63 Fed. Reg. 42587, 42589 (1998). The district court held that the listing of 7410 OREGON TROLLERS v. GUTIERREZ naturally spawning coho as “threatened” without regard to hatchery-spawning coho was arbitrary and capricious. In the view of the district court, hatchery-spawned coho populations are part of the same distinct population segment as natural coho populations, and “[l]isting distinctions below that of . . . a [distinct population segment] of a species are not allowed[.]” 161 F. Supp. 2d at 1162. We did not review the district court’s decision in Alsea on the merits. See Alsea Valley Alliance v. Dep’t of Commerce, 358 F.3d 1181 (9th Cir. 2004) (dismissing appeal on jurisdictional grounds). But even if the district court in Alsea was correct in its interpretation of the ESA (which we do not decide), its decision is not relevant to the question before us. The ESA and the Magnuson Act use different terminologies. The ESA refers to “species,” while the Magnuson Act refers to “stock.” There is nothing in the ESA, or in the district court’s decision in Alsea, that even remotely suggests that “species” and “stock” have the same definition.