Delaware Bay Waterman's Ass'n v. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

On May 30, 1997, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a sixty-day emergency amendment, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 52:14B-4(c), part of the Administrative Procedures Act *22(APA). The emergency amendment created a total ban on the taking of horseshoe crabs. Then on July 29,1997, the DEP issued another emergency amendment, extending the ban on taking horseshoe crabs for another sixty days. The appellants in this matter are commercial fishermen, who catch horseshoe crabs as part of their trade. They challenge the July 29, 1997, emergency adoption, claiming that it violates the strict…