Opinion ID: 808185
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Amendments 20 and 21

Text: In 2003, the Pacific Council set out to develop a program for better managing the Pacific groundfish fishery. The Council ultimately settled on a goal to [c]reate and implement a capacity rationalization plan that increases net economic benefits, creates individual economic stability, provides for full utilization of the trawl sector allocation, considers envi10758 PACIFIC COAST FEDERATION v. BLANK ronmental impacts, and achieves individual accountability of catch and bycatch.3 The Council also set other goals, such as simplifying the process for making allocations and reducing Pacific halibut bycatch. Work on a plan to achieve these goals began in earnest in 2006, with public workshops, Council meetings, and structuring of alternative courses of action. The Council decided to divide its goals into two proposals, one for rationalization of the trawl sector and another for allocations and Pacific halibut bycatch. Accordingly, NMFS prepared a separate draft and final EIS for each proposal, evaluating alternatives, considering the alternatives’ potential environmental and economic consequences, and discussing possible mitigation. The public was invited to comment on each version of each EIS, as well as on all proposed and final rules. See Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan, Amendments 20 and 21, Trawl Rationalization Program, 75 Fed. Reg. 60,868, 60,868 (Oct. 1, 2010) (codified at 50 C.F.R. pt. 660). In August 2010, NMFS approved Preferred Alternative 4b as Amendment 20, and various preferred alternatives as Amendment 21. NMFS issued regulations codifying the Amendments about two months later. 75 Fed. Reg. at 60,868. Amendment 20 (“Trawl Rationalization”) divides the trawl fishery into three sectors4 and then assigns a discrete number 3 According to the Amendment 20 EIS, “rationalization” is “meant to encompass a variety of measures intended to improve the management of groundfish resources, in part by improving the economic efficiency of the fishery.” NMFS focused on rationalizing the trawl sector because of its historic dominance and superior harvesting abilities. 4 These sectors are: (1) on-shore whiting and non-whiting vessels; (2) off-shore whiting motherships (which process catch from other vessels); and (3) off-shore catcher-processors, which process their own catch on board. The plaintiffs here challenge only the provisions of Amendments 20 and 21 pertaining to the on-shore, non-whiting sub-sector. PACIFIC COAST FEDERATION v. BLANK 10759 of fishing privileges within each sector. For the on-shore sector, privileges are initially allocated based on catch history and then become freely transferable after two years. Liberal transferability is expected to yield economic efficiency and bycatch reductions, but it also may force out participants from local fishing communities by consolidating privileges and making them more expensive. All trawl vessels must employ observers who measure the number of target fish caught and the number of non-target fish discarded as bycatch. Finally, Amendment 20 includes various measures to reduce adverse impacts to fishing communities. See infra Discussion, §§ A.1, B.4. Besides limiting Pacific halibut bycatch, Amendment 21 (“Intersector Allocation”) does various things to support Amendment 20, the most important of which is to fix allocations of 19 groundfish stocks among the various trawl and non-trawl sectors. For other species, the Pacific Council will continue to assign allocations every two years. Amendments 20 and 21 were implemented on January 1, 2011. See 75 Fed. Reg. at 60,868; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan, Amendments 20 and 21, Trawl Rationalization Program, 75 Fed. Reg. 78,344, 78,344 (Dec. 15, 2010) (codified at 50 C.F.R. pt. 660).