Court Opinion

ID: 9486678
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 11:56:01.774008+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:51:52.008216
License: Public Domain

JAMES R. BROWNING, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
The majority unjustifiably restricts the breadth of the Marine Mammal Protection Act to avoid subjecting Hayashi to a criminal prosecution the majority regards as unreasonable. The gloss imposed by the majority to limit the scope of “taking,” a key jurisdictional term in the Act, has no source in the language, structure or legislative history of the Act and derives little support from the various circumstances collected to sustain it. It ignores the structure and purpose of the Act and substantially weakens it as an instrument for effectuating the public policy determined by Congress.
I
Much more is at stake in defining the statutory term “taking” than Hayashi’s freedom to fire his rifle at dolphins to protect a tuna caught by his son. The meaning assigned to this term defines the authority of the Secretary of Interior and the Secretary of Commerce to regulate private and public activities affecting marine mammals.1 The authority granted the Secretary by the Act to prohibit acts harmful to marine mammals and to develop and encourage means of en*867suring their survival is keyed directly or indirectly to the concept of “taking.” A cramped construction of the term “taking” will therefore restrict most aspects of the scheme envisioned by Congress for the protection of marine mammals, from the monitoring of marine mammal populations to research into more humane fishing techniques.
The references in the Act to the term “taking” confirm its importance. The substantive provisions of the Act open with a moratorium on the “taking and importation of marine mammals and marine mammal products.” 16 U.S.C. § 1871(a). The Secretary is authorized to allow exceptions to the moratorium by issuing permits “for taking and importation” of marine mammals, as detailed in the Act. 16 U.S.C. §§ 1371, 1374. What is prohibited and what is permitted are stated in terms of “taking” and will be fixed by the definition of that term. 16 U.S.C. §§ 1372,1375,1376. The Secretary’s regulatory judgments are to be based upon the past and projected impact of “taking” upon the well-being of the species or stocks and the purposes and policies of the Act. 16 U.S.C. § 1373(a). The Act requires the Secretary to fund research into methods of fishing that minimize the incidental “taking” of marine mammals. 16 U.S.C. §§ 1380,1381. Vessels receiving exemptions are required to report incidental “taking” of marine mammals, to provide information useful in the study of the effect of certain fishing techniques on marine mammal populations. 16 U.S.C. § 1383a(c), (g). The Act establishes a Marine Mammal Commission, one of whose duties is to conduct a “continuing review ... of humane means of taking marine mammals.” 16 U.S.C. § 1402(a)(2).
II
The scheme of the Act is to define “taking” broadly, thus giving ample scope to the regulatory scheme, and at the same time, to introduce the flexibility that is essential to the effective administration of the Act by authorizing the Secretary to approve particular conduct that would otherwise be prohibited although consistent with the purposes of the Act and required by changing circumstances. The statutory language, the legislative history, the Secretary’s regulations, and the type of conduct approved by the Secretary in the past all point to an interpretation of the jurisdictional term “taking” sufficiently broad to encompass Hayashi’s act of deliberately firing his rifle near feeding dolphins to frighten them off.
“ ‘Take’ is defined broadly by the Act_” H.Rep. No. 707, 92nd Cong., 1st Sess. (1971), reprinted in 1972 U.S.C.C.A.N. 4144, 4155; see also 118 Cong.Rec. 34,639 (Oct. 10, 1972) (comments of Representative Dingell, Committee Chairman and floor manager of the bill). The Act defines “take” as meaning “to harass, hunt, capture, or kill,” or attempt to do so. See 16 U.S.C. § 1362(13). Congress did not limit the coverage of the statute to the physical destruction or injury of marine mammals. Rather, it sought to regulate a wide variety of human activity potentially harmful to such animals, progressing in severity from “harass” to “hunt,” “capture,” and finally “kill.” 1972 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 4147-48.
Congress found these activities had threatened the survival of marine mammals, although in ways not fully known. As the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries concluded, in these circumstances,
it seems elementary common sense to the Committee that legislation should be adopted to require that we act conservatively — that no steps should be taken regarding these animals that might prove to be adverse or even irreversible in their effects until more is known. As far as could be done, we have endeavored to build such a conservative bias into the legislation here presented.
Id. at 4148. Congress’s goal was nothing less than “the optimum protection of the marine mammals affected by the bill.” Id. (emphasis added).
The term “harass” performs the specific function of broadening the definition of “taking” and therefore the Act itself. The House Report highlights the role of “harass” in enlarging the scope of the Act: “The definition of taking ... includes the concept of harassment, and it is intended that this term be construed sufficiently broadly to allow the *868regulation of excessive or wanton use of ... chemical compounds, as well as the operation of powerboats.” Id. at 4150. See also id. at 4155; 118 Cong.Rec. 34,639 (Oct. 10, 1972). The Commerce Department objected that the proposed definition of “taking” was overly broad and proposed an alternative that omitted the term “harassment.”2 Congress rejected the proposal. 1972 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 4166-67, 4170. When the Act was amended in 1988, Congress again emphasized that “[t]aking of marine mammals, as defined in the Act, is not limited to capturing or killing them, but includes harassment of the mammals as well.”3 H.Rep. No. 970, 100th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1988), reprinted in 1988 U.S.C.C.A.N. 6154, 6158.
Examples of “taking” identified in the legislative history and regulations support a sufficiently broad reading of the term to encompass Hayashi’s conduct. Congress identified the “intentional pursuit [of marine mammals] or use of acoustic deterrence devices” as examples of harassment falling within the Act’s prohibition. 1988 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 6164. The regulatory explanation of “taking” identifies conduct that is only moderately intrusive and includes the significant catchall “any other negligent or intentional act which results in disturbing or molesting a marine mammal.” See 50 C.F.R. § 216.3.4
The broad scope of “taking” is also reflected in permits routinely issued to authorize conduct no more intrusive than Haya-shi’s conduct, which in the view of the agency and the applicant nonetheless constitutes “harassment” prohibited under the Act. Permits have been issued identifying as “harassment” but nonetheless authorizing “vessel approach, helicopter photogrammetry and photographic identification,” 58 Fed.Reg. 41458 (Aug. 4, 1993); see also 58 Fed.Reg. 37716 (July 13, 1993); 58 Fed.Reg. 27270 (May 7, 1993); the broadcast of “underwater acoustic recordings,” 57 Fed.Reg. 26649 (June 15, 1992); see also 58 Fed.Reg. 7548 (Feb. 8, 1993); and the incidental effects of intrusive studies of marine mammals, 58 Fed. Reg. 29199 (May 19, 1993); see also 58 Fed. Reg. 14202 (Mar. 16, 1993).
The examples listed in 50 C.F.R. § 216.3 argue against rather than in favor of the majority’s limitation of “taking” to “direct and significant intrusions upon the normal, life-sustaining activities of a marine mammal.” (Opinion p. 4158) Under the regulation, a “restraint or detention,” “no matter how temporary,” qualifies as a “taking,” but the majority’s proposed standard requires a “direct and significant intrusion.” “Collection of dead animals” does not support the majority’s requirement of “direct and significant intrusion on life-sustaining activities.” “Tagging a marine mammal” cannot be con*869sidered a “significant intrusion on the normal, life-sustaining activities of a marine mammal”; it is a humane means of tracking animals for research, requiring only a minimal intrusion on their activities, life-sustaining or otherwise.5
The majority concludes that only disruptions of “normal mammal behavior” are contemplated by the term “harass” and characterizes the porpoises’ behavior in this case as “unnatural” or “abnormal marine mammal activity.” (Opinion p. 4160) This addition to the definition of the scope of the Act will require courts and regulators to develop a workable system of rules around the elusive concept of “normal marine mammal behavior,” a term not mentioned in the Act or its legislative history. Moreover, the porpoises who stole the fish from Hayashi’s line were not behaving unnaturally or abnormally. They were merely competing with Hayashi for the same catch. By excluding such behavior from the protection of the Act, the majority frustrates one of the primary purposes of the Act — the protection of marine mammals from harm arising out of human fishing activity.6 See 1972 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 4148 (discussing the harm caused to porpoises by commercial tuna fishing techniques).
Ill
Congress included a system of exceptions and exemptions in the Act to enable the Secretary to administer effectively the Act’s broad prohibition of activity that might prove harmful to marine mammals. These provisions grant the Secretary the necessary authority to achieve the overall objective of protecting marine mammals while affording reasonable protection to other interests. The statutory structure and the manner in which the Secretary has administered it offer additional, significant support for a broad reading of the jurisdictional term “taking,” and specifically for application of the Act to the conduct involved in this case.
The Act bars all taking of marine mammals with specified exceptions. 16 U.S.C. § 1371(a). Among other exceptions, “[m]a-rine mammals may be taken incidentally in the course of commercial fishing operations” under permits issued by the Secretary and subject to conditions specified in the statute.7 16 U.S.C. § 1371(a)(2). The Secretary is authorized to waive the general bar against “taking” of marine mammals, and adopt “suitable regulations, issue permits, and make determinations” governing “taking” that are “in accord with sound principles of resource protection and conservation.” 16 U.S.C. § 1371(a)(3)(A). See also 16 U.S.C. § 1374(a) (authorizing the Secretary to “issue permits which authorize the taking or importation of any marine mammal” subject to specific conditions and in accordance with stipulated procedures).8
In the exercise of these powers, the Secretary has from time to time issued regulations dealing with the general problem presented by the facts of this case. A regulation issued in 1980 authorized commercial fishermen in *870specified categories to “take such steps as are necessary to protect [their] catch” from marine mammals. 50 C.F.R. § 216.-24(d)(5)(ii). In 1988, Congress added an exemption to the Act under which commercial fishermen in certain fisheries who registered with the Secretary would be exempt from the statutory prohibition against incidental taking of marine mammals until October 1,1993. See 16 U.S.C. § 1383a. The Secretary adopted regulations pursuant to the 1988 exemption permitting such fishermen to “intentionally take marine mammals to protect catch, gear, or person during the course of commercial fishing operations,” upon securing an exemption certificate or complying with reporting requirements.9 50 C.F.R. §§ 229.4(a), 229.6(c)(5), 229.7(d) (emphasis added).
The record indicates that Hayashi was a commercial fisherman and that the conduct underlying his conviction occurred during the period to which the regulations enforcing the 1988 exemption applied. Hayashi did not claim his activities fell within the exemption, however, and the record does not permit a determination of that question. Nonetheless, the existence and substance of the statutory and regulatory exception are significant.
The regulations enforcing the 1988 exemption contradict the majority’s conclusion that the Act prohibits only direct and significant intrusions on a marine mammal’s life-sustaining activities. The authorization to “take” marine mammals to protect a fisherman’s catch is expressly limited to conduct “not expected to cause death or injury to a marine mammal.” 10 50 C.F.R. §§ 229.6(e)(5), 229.-7(d). This limitation makes it clear conduct necessary to protect a catch and not expected to threaten the life of a porpoise was nonetheless included within the statute’s prohibition against “taking.”
Thus, the commercial fishermen exemption indicates on its face that Hayashi committed a “taking” when he shot at porpoises to protect his catch. The Secretary would not exempt such conduct if it were not prohibited by the Act. In response, the majority effectively extends the exemption to all fishermen:
We note that in concluding that the MMPA does not reach certain acts of private fishermen in response to porpoises eating fish off their lines, we merely extend to those fishermen some portion of the protections from prosecution afforded commercial fishermen confronted by such behavior. See 16 U.S.C. § 1383a; 50 C.F.R. § 229.
(Opinion p. 4161 n. 15) The majority does not and cannot argue the specific exemption provided expressly for commercial fishermen can be extended to non-commercial fishermen by interpretation; the majority extends the exemption to non-commercial fishermen simply because it considers such an extension to be reasonable.
The problems with the majority’s approach are obvious. It is not within the power of the majority to extend the commercial fishermen exemption to non-commercial fishermen. It is irrelevant that the majority extends to non-commercial fishermen only “some portion of the protections” afforded to commercial fishermen by Congress and the Secretary, or that the protections the majority extends to non-commercial fishermen are moderate and reasonable, if indeed they are.
Although the question was not raised by the parties, there was an obvious reason for Congress to limit the exemption to commercial fishermen. Harassment and killing of dolphins are inevitable in commercial tuna fishing operations. Congress’s purpose was to limit the killing and injury of dolphins as far as possible without destroying the tuna fishing industry. The result was a broad prohibition of conduct injurious to porpoises with an exemption for commercial fishing operations under a restraining system of permits and regulations administered by the Secretary. Non-commercial fishing was not exempt from the flat prohibition of conduct *871injurious to marine mammals because noncommercial fishing did not involve a large economic interest Congress wished to protect.
Under Congress’s chosen approach, the Secretary is charged with striking the balance between the protection of marine mammals and the economic health of commercial fishing. And with good reason. The Secretary has the expertise and ability to study the effects of commercial fishing techniques on marine mammals and to expand or contract an exemption as new information evolves. Under the majority’s approach, an exemption for non-commercial fishing is written into the definition of “taking,” and the Secretary is powerless to alter the exemption or impose conditions or limitations upon it.11 The majority’s view is bad policy as well as bad law.

. The Act divides duties between the Secretary of Interior and the Secretary of Commerce. 16 U.S.C. § 1362(12). The term "Secretary” refers to both.

. The definition proposed by the Commerce Department was: "The term 'taking' shall mean wounding, capturing or killing or hunting or pursuing with an intent to wound, capture or kill." 1972 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 4170.

. The majority invokes the “familiar principle of statutory construction that words grouped in a list should be given related meaning.” Third Nat’l Bank in Nashville v. Impac, Ltd., 432 U.S. 312, 322, 97 S.Ct. 2307, 2313, 53 L.Ed.2d 368 (1977). But the doctrine of noscitur a sociis “is not an invariable rule, for [a] word may have a character of its own not to be submerged by its association.” Russell Motor Car Co. v. United States, 261 U.S. 514, 519, 43 S.Ct. 428, 430, 67 L.Ed. 778 (1923). As noted, "harass, hunt, capture, or kill” suggests that "taking” encompasses a spectrum of conduct involving different degrees of intrusiveness. The term "harass” should not be "submerged” in a monolithic meaning that encompasses only “hunt, capture, or kill.” In any event, rules of construction are “used to illuminate the intent of the drafters; when the rule conflicts with other, clearer indications of intent, its results should be ignored.” Leslie Salt Co. v. United States, 896 F.2d 354, 359 (9th Cir.1990).

.50 C.F.R. § 216.3 provides that “taking” includes:
to harass, hunt, capture, collect, or kill, or attempt to harass, hunt, capture, collect, or kill, any marine mammal. This includes, without limitation, any of the following: The collection of dead animals, or parts thereof; the restraint or detention of a marine mammal, no matter how temporary; tagging a marine mammal; the negligent or intentional operation of an aircraft or vessel, or the doing of any other negligent or intentional act which results in disturbing or molesting a marine mammal; and feeding or attempting to feed a marine mammal in the wild.
50 C.F.R. § 216.3 (emphasis added). The concluding clause regarding feeding became effective April 19, 1991, after the conduct involved in this case.

. The majority also relies on the definition of “taking" in a regulation issued under the Endangered Species Act, specifically, 50 C.F.R. § 17.3. Section 17.3 is of no help to the majority. On its face, the ESA’s regulatory definition of the term "harass" as an act that "significantly disrupt[s] normal behavioral patterns which include, but are not limited to, breeding, feeding or sheltering” is no more restrictive than the Act's regulatory definition in § 216.3. To the extent § 17.3 is more restrictive than § 216.3, the Secretary was aware of § 17.3, see 56 Fed.Reg. 11,693, 11,695 (Mar. 20, 1991), and failed to add similar language to § 216.3.

. In support of its interpretation of the Act, the majority proposes a false "fisherman’s dilemma." (Opinion p. 4162-63) Hayashi was not fishing to feed the porpoises, but to feed people, conduct to which the feeding prohibition in 50 C.F.R. § 216.3 does not apply. Indeed, the feeding prohibition is not directed at fishermen. It only regulates “intentional” feeding, and explicitly exempts unintentional, incidental feeding such as the discard of catch by a fishing boat. 56 Fed.Reg. 11,693 (1991).

. Also specifically authorized are “taking” for scientific research and public display under permits issued by the Secretary, 16 U.S.C. 1371(a)(1); and “taking" by Alaskan natives for subsistence and other limited purposes, 16 U.S.C. § 1371(b).

. The Secretary is also authorized to issue general permits to persons whose activities are likely to result in prohibited "takings” for which the Secretary would probably issue a permit if application in advance of each “taking” were possible. 16 U.S.C. § 1374(h).

. These regulations superseded the 1980 regulations.

. Similarly, the 1980 regulations allowed particular fishermen to take necessary steps to protect their catch "without inflicting death or injury to any marine mammal.” 50 C.F.R. § 216.-24(d)(5)(ii).

. Congress's intent in this regard is clear. The 1988 amendment requires holders of exemptions to meet stringent registration and reporting requirements. 16 U.S.C. § 1383a; 1988 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 6154-59.