The U.S. District Court for Alaska has dismissed a lawsuit by the Groundfish Forum, a trade group representing trawl catcher-processors in Alaska, which challenged a North Pacific Fishery Management Council rule limiting the sector’s halibut bycatch. The rule, finished in 2023 as Amendment 123, connects the sector’s annual catch limit for halibut bycatch to the latest halibut abundance figures, allowing for a maximum reduction of the catch limit by 35 percent if the abundance level is low. The Groundfish Forum, representing the Amendment 80 trawl sector, asserted that the rule is unfair and would lead to an annual loss of USD 100 million (EUR 91 million) for the sector. However, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed the lawsuit, upholding the rule and favoring NOAA Fisheries.