The National Marine Fisheries Service can’t enforce its rule closing federal waters near Alaska to commercial salmon fishing and must complete further review, a judge in the state ruled in a win for fishermen.
The agency failed to explain why it excluded the recreational fishery from its regulation, according to Judge Joshua M. Kindred of the US District Court for the District of Alaska. The agency also improperly delegated conservation and management measures to the state, he wrote Tuesday.
The agency’s actions violated the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and Administrative Procedure Act, Kindred wrote.
But, the court rejected ...