US government says Alaska fishing fleet has no claim in bycatch lawsuit

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said arguments challenging its new halibut bycatch rule that went into effect in January are "too vague and ambiguous to permit a response." The administration made the statement March 5 in response to a lawsuit brought last year by the Groundfish Forum, arguing its member groups are suffering severe economic losses from the new rule. The response is NOAA's first to the complaints made against it in a lawsuit filed by the Groundfish Forum last year. The Groundfish Forum, which represents Fishermen's Finest, Northstar Fishing, Ocean Peace Inc., O'Hara Corporation and United States Seafood, operates 17 trawl vessels and is arguing for the reinstatement of a fixed bycatch limit of 1,745 metric tons for the Amendment 80 fleet. The new rule requires that when halibut abundance is very low in the Bering Sea Aleutian Islands (BSAI), the prohibited species catch, or PSC limit, decreases for the Amendment 80 fleet by 35 percent ...