Congress recently passed the Billfish Protection Act, it became Public Law No. 112-183The text of the bill provides:
AN ACT
To prohibit the sale of billfish.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be
New case regarding the National Marine Fisheries Service plans for the Pacific groundfish fishery and trawler groundfishing regulations. The case is Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Association v. Banks. Opinion can be found here.
The opinion is heavy on statute and regulation, particularly the National Environmental Policy Act, the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation Management Act and
The Ninth Circuit just issued a decision in a case arising from an aboriginal claim of fishing rights off the coast of Alaska. The en banc decision denied the claim of aboriginal fishing rights with a mildly stinging dissent. The case is Native Village of Eyak v. Blank, and it can be downloaded here
In a question of first impression, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the conviction of a marine surveyor for knowingly violating the MARPOL treaty while aboard a foreign vessel in a U.S. port. The case is United States v. Pena and can be read here.
By way of legal background, MARPOL is the name of the
It isn't often my day job doing land use and condemnation litigation overlaps with my maritime interests, but the Ninth Circuit just published a decision that comes awfully close.
The case is Samson v. City of Bainbridge Island and the opinion can be found here.
The facts: the City of Bainbridge Island issued a
The federal court struck down Hawaii’s invasive species assessment on air cargo. A copy of the permanent injunction is here. My earlier post on the law can be found here.
In passing the assessment, the Legislature found:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the unchecked spread of invasive species is the single greatest threat
The Environmental Protection Agency’s new requirement for sulfur content in maritime fuels is coming into force on August 1.
Hawaii News Now report with video here.
Per the EPA, the “Emission Control Area” for North America will go into effect on August 1, 2012:
On March 26, 2010, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) amended
New Ninth Circuit case dealing with fisheries near the Hawaiian Islands. The case is Turtle Island Restoration Network, et al. v. Department of Commerce, et al and it can be found here.
In the latest chapter of the litigation over the Hawaii longline fishery and its interaction with sea turtles, the Hawaii Longline Association, in its capacity
News reports say the Supreme Court denied Michigan's request to grant cert after Michigan's request for a preliminary injunction was denied by the federal court.
I've written about the problems posed by the Asian Carp invasion into the Great Lakes. The states near the Great Lakes have tried to compel the federal government into taking
The Asian Carp. It is an ugly fella. Should the federal government be required to install block nets to stop these beasties from invading the Great lakes? We’ll see if the Supreme Court thinks that is a question it should be asking.
Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.
The Asian Carp is an invasive