Opinion ID: 494707
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Discretion to Prosecute.

Text: 23 The Fish and Wildlife Service and the ADF & G argue that the Conservation Fund's claims should be dismissed because any result in favor of the Fund would infringe on the enforcement and prosecutorial discretion of the Service. Failure of an agency to prosecute is presumptively not reviewable under the APA. See Heckler v. Chaney, 470 U.S. 821, 831, 105 S.Ct. 1649, 1655, 84 L.Ed.2d 714 (1985); see also Railway Labor Executives Ass'n, 760 F.2d at 1024-25. In Chaney, the Supreme Court held that the presumption of reviewability normally accorded to agency actions does not apply to an agency's decision not to prosecute or enforce a law. Chaney, 470 U.S. at 831-32, 105 S.Ct. at 1655-56. A decision not to enforce a law is generally committed to an agency's absolute discretion. Id. An agency's failure to act is reviewable where the substantive statute has provided guidelines for the agency to follow in exercising its enforcement powers. Id. at 833, 105 S.Ct. at 1656 (footnote omitted). 24 The Conservation Fund contends that the Fish and Wildlife Service has abrogated its statutory duty to enforce the closed hunting season required by the MBTA. To the extent that the Service's failure to act is the basis of the Conservation Fund's claim, we lack jurisdiction under the APA to consider the claim. The MBTA explicitly delegates the authority to adopt regulations and discretionary enforcement powers to the Secretary of the Interior. See 16 U.S.C. Secs. 704, 712. The discretion granted to the Fish and Wildlife Service precludes our review of the Service's failure to enforce the MBTA. 25 The Conservation Fund does not, however, rely solely on the Fish and Wildlife Service's failure to enforce the MBTA as the basis for its claim. It also complains that by entering into the Hooper Bay Agreement and the 1985 Goose Management Plan the Fish & Wildlife Service violated the MBTA. Such actions are reviewable, see Chaney, 470 U.S. at 831, 105 S.Ct. at 1655; Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402, 410, 91 S.Ct. 814, 820, 28 L.Ed.2d 136 (1971), unless the agency action is committed to agency discretion by law. 5 U.S.C. Sec. 701(a)(2). The MBTA grants the Secretary of the Interior discretion to regulate the taking of migratory birds, but that discretion is limited to actions in accordance with the treaties the MBTA implements. See 16 U.S.C. 712(1). We have jurisdiction to determine whether the agency action, entry into the Hooper Bay Agreement and the 1985 Goose Management Plan, was contrary to the provisions of the treaties and thus to the MBTA. 26