Court Upholds West Coast Catch Share Program

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the ninth Circuit this week upheld a prior court’s ruling that the West Coast Groundfish individual transferable quota system—a form of catch share—complies with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. The court found that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) had adequately considered  the impacts of the program and taken  the proper steps to accomplish its goals, including environmental conservation, increasing economic benefits and holding fishermen accountable for staying within catch limits.

In dismissing the plaintiff’s arguments challenging inadequate consideration of environmental impacts, the court held that the program “may actually decrease trawling’s dominance by consolidating the trawling fleet, allowing trawlers to switch to fixed gear, and allocating more fish to non-trawlers than they have caught in recent years.” In fact, according to a mid-year update from NMFS on the status of the fishery, the IFQ program continues to generate significant conservation benefits. To read more about the decision click here.