Parties in Dolphin Protection Case Support End of Injunction Against NZ Seafood Imports

Defendant-intervenor New Zealand told the Court of International Trade on March 19 that all parties now agree they would like the court to dissolve a preliminary injunction prohibiting the U.S. and others from purchasing nine types of seafood from certain New Zealand exporters (Sea Shepherd New Zealand v. U.S., CIT # 20-00112).

CIT initiated the injunction at the urging of conservation groups Sea Shepherd New Zealand and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which were concerned that multispecies sea-nets and trawl fisheries around New Zealand’s West Coast North Island were harming the country’s endangered Maui dolphins (see 2301090058).

However, in January, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that New Zealand had established that its fisheries satisfy the provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

As a result, the injunction is no longer needed, the New Zealand government said. It said that, after being approached by the New Zealand government's counsel, the U.S. had consented to, and the conservation groups “stated that they do not oppose," the motion.

The injunction has been the focus of ongoing litigation since 2020, during which the court denied an attempt to delay the injunction and allowed the lawsuit to continue even after the subject of one count, an administrative decision made by the New Zealand government in 2020, expired at the end of 2022 (see 2306210046).