Natural Resources Defense Council v. National Marine Fisheries Service

The National Marine Fisheries Service (service) (defendant) instituted a fishery recovery plan after discovering that rockfish were seriously depleted. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act required that plans accomplish fishery recovery within 10 years, unless the fish’s biology or environment made a 10-year plan impossible. In that case, the plan could be longer, but the act also required that any plan restore a damaged fishery in as short a time as possible. The service initially made a 10-year plan for rockfish recovery, but after discovering that rockfish were more depleted than previously thought, the service believed that the minimum time for recovery would be 14 years. Because the service believed it was no longer constrained by the 10-year requirement, it instituted a 34-year plan based on the economic needs of local fishermen. As part of the 34-year plan, the service raised the allowable fishing level for rockfish by 48 metric tons. National Resource Defense Council (council) (plaintiff) sued, arguing that the service was violating the act by increasing fishing levels on an endangered fish and increasing the plan’s recovery time. The service replied that it increased the fishing levels in recognition of the economic hardship on the fishing community that a 34-year plan would create. The court ruled in favor of the service, and the council appealed.