Opinion ID: 2600698
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The CFEC Decision Rejecting the Nelsons' Extraordinary Circumstances Claim Has a Reasonable Basis.

Text: The CFEC may award applicants points they reasonably would have been entitled to receive but for extraordinary circumstances. [15] Extraordinary circumstances do not include voluntary or involuntary retirement from a fishery or loss of the financial means to continue participation in a fishery. [16] Extraordinary circumstances do include the loss of vessel or equipment through sinking, destruction, or extensive mechanical breakdown. [17] Mechanical breakdown implies that the equipment worked at some point. Inability to properly use equipment and unsuitability of equipment are not generally considered to be `mechanical breakdowns.' [18] The hearing officer and the CFEC rejected the Nelsons' extraordinary circumstances claim, concluding that inappropriate gear, not gear failure, ultimately caused the Nelsons' inability to participate in the sablefish fishery in 1977. The hearing officer acknowledged that the Nelsons experienced mechanical problems that year, but, because the sablefish fishery season was two and a half months long, found it was [m]ore than likely that they had ample time to have a gear failure and still get back to fishing after a repair. The hearing officer found that if the Nelsons had been prevented from participating in the sablefish fishery, it was because they were using a crab block instead of a longline gurdy and that [a]cquiring the necessary equipment is a common experience for fishers and is not unique or extraordinary. The hearing officer also noted that their vessel was run down, that any boat share money beyond the loan payment went into repairing and equipping the vessel, and that the Nelsons did not participate in the sablefish fishery with that vessel again until 1984. In our view, the CFEC had a reasonable basis for its interpretation and application of the regulations to reject the Nelsons' extraordinary circumstances claim. It is unfortunate if financial considerations precluded the Nelsons from participation in the sablefish fishery, but the regulations explicitly state that loss of the financial means to continue participation in a fishery does not constitute extraordinary circumstances. [19] We thus uphold the CFEC's decision declining to award the Nelsons additional points based on this claim.