United States v. David Hayashi

REINHARDT, Circuit Judge:

David Hayashi appeals his conviction of taking a marine mammal in violation of 16 U.S.C. § 1372(a)(2)(A). We hold that the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and the regulations implementing the act do not make it a crime to take reasonable steps to deter porpoises from eating fish or bait off a fisherman’s line. Therefore, we conclude that insufficient evidence supported Haya-shi’s conviction, and we reverse.

I

On the morning of January 24,1991, Haya-shi, a part-time commercial fisherman, and his son were fishing for Ahi off the coast of Waianae, Hawaii. A group of…