Legal Challenges to Highly Migratory Species Management under
Magnuson-Stevens
By R. Husted, M. McCall, and R. Lent
ABSTRACT
The first-ever fishery management plan (FMP) for highly migratory species
(HMS - swordfish, sharks, tunas) and the first amendment to the billfish FMP were completed in April 1999. The measures in the FMP and FMP Amendment addressed the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act as well as the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act. Several lawsuits followed the publication of the final rule implementing the measures in the FMP. These legal challenges came from all camps: environmental, recreational and commercial fishermen. In some cases, suits were filed based on one or more of the new National Standards of Magnuson-Stevens, while in other cases Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), or the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) were invoked. The outcome of these lawsuits - some of which are already settled and others that are under a stay - is key to determining the interpretation of various measures in Magnuson-Stevens, which has been a considerable challenge for HMS. This paper reviews the bases on which these suits were filed, and the latest developments in the legal process.
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