ELR Citation: 54 ELR 20015
No(s). 18-112 (JEB) (D.D.C. Jan 29, 2024) (Boasberg, J.)

A district court granted NMFS' motion to dismiss a challenge to its lobster fishing gear regulations. Environmental groups argued the regulations did not adequately protect the endangered North American right whale, in violation of the ESA and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. NMFS moved to dismiss for mootness, in light of Congress having since enacted legislation declaring the Service's regulations to be "sufficient" through 2028 and the D.C. Circuit having vacated the Service's most recent biological opinion (BiOp) as being too restrictive of fishing. The court agreed, finding the new legislation precluded granting the relief the groups sought and that vacatur of the BiOp left nothing from which to seek relief. It granted the motion to dismiss.