Fishermen’s Case That Overturned Chevron Sees Agency Rule Upheld

Atlantic herring fishermen failed to overturn a National Marine Fisheries Service rule requiring vessels to pay onboard compliance monitors’ costs in a case that joined Loper Bright v. Raimondo in rolling back agency deference at the US Supreme Court.

The US District Court for the District of Rhode Island upheld the agency’s interpretation of the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Act’s vessel observer requirements on Tuesday, offering an early indication of how much courts may exercise independent judgment in determining if the government conducted “reasoned decisionmaking.”

“Congress explicitly delegated discretionary authority,” to the NMFS to issue rules that the agency deems “necessary and appropriate for the conservation and management of the fishery,” and Judge William E. Smith ruled industry-funded monitoring fits within those parameters.

The Supreme Court included a discretionary delegation caveat in the Loper Bright decision last June, which overturned the longstanding Chevron doctrine requiring courts to defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statute. The cases were remanded to their respective appeals courts, and the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit sent this case back to district court.

Chief Justice John Roberts noted lawmakers often enact statutes that empower agencies to prescribe rules to “fill up the details” of a statute, and the role of the courts under the Administrative Procedure Act is to “effectuate the will of Congress.”

Here, Smith said while Congress didn’t explicitly authorize observer costs to be placed on fishermen, the “default norm” of hundreds of regulations is that the government doesn’t reimburse regulated entities for compliance costs.

The plaintiffs were represented by the New Civil Liberties Alliance and Timothy J. Robenhymer.

The case is Relentless Inc. v. US Dep’t of Commerce, 2025 BL 246668, D.R.I., No. 1:20-cv-00108, 7/15/25.