Wildlife Advocacy Groups Ask for Expedited Briefing in Suit Seeking Import Bans on International Fisheries

Three wildlife advocacy groups on Oct. 15 asked the Court of International Trade for expedited briefing in their suit challenging various federal agencies' alleged failure to ban fish or fish products exported from fisheries that don't meet U.S. bycatch standards under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The groups claimed their case is ripe for expedited treatment since the "public interest in enforcement of the statute is particularly strong" and failure to expedite would make the requested relief moot (Natural Resources Defense Council v. United States, CIT # 24-00148).

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Center for Biological Diversity and the Animal Welfare Institute in their complaint alleged that fisheries in nine nations -- Canada, Ecuador, France, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, the U.K. and South Korea -- failed to meet U.S. standards. As a result, the companies said the Commerce, Treasury and Homeland Security departments and the National Marine Fisheries Service haven't undertaken their mandated duty in that they failed to ban fish from these fisheries (see 2408080028).

In seeking a quicker resolution of the matter, the advocacy groups said there's a "strong public interest in implementing the MMPA and its Import Provisions."

The public has a "strong interest" in the groups' enforcement efforts to "ensure aesthetic and recreational interests in marine mammals," preserve the key role the mammals play in ecosystems and prevent the "ecological impacts of population depletion," the brief said. In addition, U.S. consumers have a "strong interest in ensuring that the seafood they purchase is not caught in a manner that violates U.S. marine mammal bycatch standards," the brief said.

The groups added that since the agencies have failed to uphold the MMPA, "domestic fisheries are subject to stricter bycatch standards than the practices used by many foreign fisheries." The agencies have had over 50 years to comply with their duty to ban the importation of fish and fish products from noncompliant fisheries and have failed to act on that mandate, prompting the need for expedited briefing in the name of public interests recognized by Congress in the MMPA, the brief said.

Without expedited briefing, the resulting harm would be irreparable since "imports from foreign fisheries will continue unchecked, and marine mammals will be bycaught," the groups claimed. The imports will continue at "rates that do not maintain their optimal sustainable populations and at levels that cause irreparable associated ecological consequences," the brief said.

The proposed schedule would see the groups' motion for partial summary judgment come on Nov. 18 and the government's reply due on Dec. 23. Final briefing in the case would be due in February 2025.