ELR Citation: 53 ELR 20045
No(s). 3:22-cv-00117-JD (N.D. Cal. Mar 14, 2023) (Donato, J.)

A district court granted in part an environmental group's motion for summary judgment in a challenge to NMFS' 2021 permit authorizing the incidental taking of ESA-listed humpback whales in a sablefish fishery off the Pacific coast. The group argued NMFS violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) by failing to ensure that a take reduction plan for the whales had been developed or was being developed before issuing the permit. The court found NMFS' conclusion that the MMPA was satisfied without a take reduction plan being under development was arbitrary and capricious, and that the permit was unlawful. The group also challenged the 2020 biological opinion on which NMFS relied in issuing the permit, but the court deferred consideration of that claim.