Following hard on recent U.S. District Court decisions that will potentially close out longline fishing in Hawaii and trawling in Alaska, a federal judge in Seattle has ruled against the seafood industry and the states of Oregon and Washington in their effort to ensure a fair allocation of Pacific groundfish between tribal and non-tribal fishermen.

The decision by Judge Barbara Rothstein on July 26, 2000, was made on 4 separate lawsuits filed by the two states, West Coast Seafood Processors Association (Portland, OR), Midwater Trawlers Cooperative (Newport, OR), and Fishermen's Marketing Association (Eureka, CA) against the U.S. Department of Commerce. The suits challenged the regulations under which allocations are made to tribal fisheries; the extent of the "usual and accustomed areas" in which tribal fisheries occur; and the U.S. government's continued practice of granting tribal allocations without examining the scientific basis for those allocations. Judge Rothstein ruled against the plaintiffs on all counts. A decision on whether to appeal the ruling is pending.

"This is certainly a setback to the west coast seafood industry," said Rod Moore, Executive Director of the West Coast Seafood Processors Association. "Our fishermen and processors are already being hit by harvest reductions on most species of Pacific groundfish. What is really frightening is that the judge didn't even look at the scientific data presented but instead ruled that the federal government could do whatever it pleases, no matter how arbitrary and capricious. You have to wonder what this means for the future of rational fisheries management."

"Since 1996, the tribal fisheries have been allocated 130,000 metric tons of Pacific whiting which has been sold to a foreign-controlled company using a foreign-built processing vessel that was granted a special exemption to operate in the U.S. fisheries. The 2000 allocation alone is worth approximately $2.5 million to fishermen and - if marketed as fillets - over $11 million to seafood processors. If the Department of Commerce had relied on the data from its own scientists, rather than engaging in back-room deals, then the benefits of the fishery would have been shared equally. Unfortunately, the Clinton/Gore administration seems to consider fishermen and processors as less than equal under the law."

"While we disagree on some legal and scientific points, we have no quarrel with the tribes trying to take advantage of the resources found off their shores. However, we have to ask why the federal government is bending the law and the science to increase the size of the tribal fishery at a time when it is talking about reducing the non-tribal fleet by 50%. If the Clinton/Gore administration wants to end commercial fishing, why don't they come right out and say so?"
these amendments into law."