Greenpeace v. National Marine Fisheries Service

ORDER

ZILLY, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

The Gulf of Alaska (GOA) and the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands region (BSAI), collectively referred to as the North Pacific ecosystem, is home to the largest commercial fishery in the United States. The ecosystem is also home to the western Steller sea lion, which in 1990 was listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as a threatened species and in 1997 was classified as endangered. Greenpeace, American Oceans Campaign, and the Sierra Club (plaintiffs) contend the North Pacific groundfish trawl fisheries are harmful to the endangered Steller sea lion…