ELR Citation: 44 ELR 20271
No(s). 08-1881 (D.D.C. Dec 17, 2014)

A district court refused to vacate a biological opinion issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in which it determined that the operation of the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery would not jeopardize the continued existence of the Northwest Atlantic population segment of loggerhead sea turtles. An environmental group filed suit against the agency, arguing that the no-jeopardy determination violated the ESA and that NMFS failed to take proper account of various factors that harm loggerheads, instead focusing solely on the isolated effects of the Scallop Fishery. The group also accused NMFS of ignoring the effects of climate change, an issue the group had raised in comments that it submitted to the agency, and further argued that NMFS failed to establish adequate monitoring processes to ensure that limits on the number of loggerheads that lawfully can be harmed are not exceeded by the Fishery’s operation. But the court disagreed, instead finding that the biological opinion's no-jeopardy determination and its associated take limits are not arbitrary and capricious. However, the court identified deficiencies in the incidental take statement with regard to dredge and trawl monitoring. The court, therefore, remanded the matter to NMFS for the limited purpose of addressing those deficiencies.