This is what I am talking about. The CCA lawsuit.
This is in today's Ft Myers paper. I think we have a decent shot. Judge Steele is a good guy and will judge fairly by the law.
Decision in grouper suit expected ahead of ban
By MIKE HOYEM
MHOYEM@NEWS-PRESS.COM
Published by news-press.com on October 28, 2005
A judge who must decide whether a ban on recreational grouper fishing is legal listened to arguments Thursday in a pair of lawsuits anglers filed against the federal government.
U.S. District Judge John E. Steele didn't issue an order, but said he will have one ready by Monday, a day before the two-month ban is to take effect.
The U.S. Department of Commerce, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service are concerned about the number of red grouper in the Gulf of Mexico and want to ban recreational grouper fishing during November and December.
Federal officials closed commercial fishing for the year for shallow-water grouper on Oct. 10.
The Coastal Conservation Association and the Fishing Rights Alliance, a pair of organizations with thousands of members, are fighting the ban on recreational grouper fishing.
The groups filed lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Fort Myers and argue the ban wasn't legally enacted, is based on flawed data, is overly broad, arbitrary and an abuse of government authority.
Attorney Bruce Cahn of Portland, Ore., who represents the conservation association, told Steele the government lacked solid evidence that the stock of red grouper is being depleted when an interim regulation setting up the ban was approved.
Cahn — who said state officials don't believe the ban is necessary — said government officials "didn't do their homework" because they based the ban on a "one-year spike" in statistics that may not be accurate.
Cahn also said federal law requires that an interim rule address a specific situation. The rule that was adopted, Cahn said, violates that requirement because it bans all grouper fishing when there are 16 other species of grouper and no evidence any of them is overfished.
"Did they have the authority to issue the rule?" Cahn asked. "Our finding is they did not."
Attorney Mark A. Brown of the U.S. Justice Department defended the ban.
"The bottom line is the fisheries service has an obligation ... to monitor landings of red grouper and take action to prevent overfishing," Brown said. "The rule is necessary and justified to prevent overfishing."
Brown said federal law requires fish species to be treated as "units" and the only way to prevent red grouper overfishing is to ban all grouper fishing.
"You can't avoid catching red grouper just because you set out to catch a gag grouper or some other species," Brown said. "Red grouper would still be caught. Red grouper would be thrown back, and there would be mortality."
Hope the judge is a fisherman with common sense....he'll make the right decision.