California Sea Urchin Commission v. Bean, No. 15-56672 (9th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CaseThe Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's decisions in favor of the Service in consolidated cases brought by fishing industry groups challenging the Service's decision to end a 1987 sea otter translocation program. After determining that plaintiffs had standing, the panel held that the Service acted lawfully in terminating the southern sea otter relocation program authorized by Public Law 99-625. The panel explained that, in light of the expressly stated goals of Public Law 99-625, it was reasonable to interpret the "mandatory" language in the statute as conditioned on an ongoing successful translocation program. The panel also held that, in the circumstances here, where the agency has discretion to implement an experimental program, it can reasonably interpret the statute to allow it to terminate that program if the statute's purpose was no longer being served.
Court Description: Environmental Law The panel affirmed the district courts’ decisions in favor of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in consolidated cases brought by fishing industry groups challenging the Service’s decision to end a 1987 sea otter translocation program. Pursuant to discretionary authority granted by Congress, Public Law 99-625, the Service created an experimental reserve population of southern sea otters some distance from the main population. In 2012, the Service deemed the program a failure and terminated it. The district courts held that the Service’s interpretation of the statute allowing termination was reasonable, and upheld the decision to end the program. The panel held that the plaintiffs had standing. The panel rejected plaintiffs’ contention that they had standing due to the potential liability that they faced due to the elimination of exemptions for incidental takes in the management zone because plaintiffs did not allege a concrete and particularized harm. The panel held that plaintiffs did allege a concrete and particularized harm based on the harms they suffer because of sea otter predation of shellfish. On the merits, the panel held that the Service acted lawfully in terminating the translocation program in 2012 because it was based on a reasonable interpretation of the
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on April 18, 2018.
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