A U.S. federal judge has sided with environmental NGO Oceana in a case against the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) decision to heavily redact or refuse to issue photos related to trawl fisheries.
U.S. judge for the Central District of California Josephine Staton ordered NMFS to release all requested photos, videos, and data related to bycatch in the California halibut trawl fishery to Oceana. Oceana, represented by Earthjustice, sued NMFS in December 2024 after its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for information related to bycatch in both California and Alaskan trawl fisheries were either denied – as in the case for the California halibut trawl – or heavily redacted in what it called an “irrational and overly broad interpretation” of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA).
The photos were taken by observers of fishery bycatch, and in many cases, NMFS either completely obscured the subject of the photo, often leaving images of a dead mammal surrounded by redactions and blurred imagery. In the case of the California halibut trawl fishery, NMFS refused to send any images at all.
Oceana argued the photos are public information and are important for people to understand the impacts of the fishery.
“It’s important for the public to understand the full picture of how bottom-trawl fisheries interact with and harm marine wildlife,” Oceana Campaign Manager and Marine Scientist Catlynn Birch said of the lawsuit. “Transparency around these impacts helps ensure fisheries are managed with the best available information, and we appreciate that the court affirmed the public’s right to access this data.”
Oceana said it was requesting imagery collected by federal fishery observers and that the redaction NMFS had applied removed important context it would use in public education campaigns.
Staton wrote in her decision that the language of the MSA authorizes the full release of observer photographs and that the agency’s arguments for exemptions aren’t backed up by the “plain language” of the act.
Oceana claims California’s fishery has had a “patchwork” of observer coverage and that federal observer programs have been withdrawing from monitoring state-managed fisheries. The NGO said it released its own bycatch program report to create a potential roadmap for state-managed bycatch monitoring programs to fill the gaps and observer photos from NFMS are an important part of that effort.
“These photos are visual proof of how commercial trawl fisheries are impacting our marine species and ecosystems,” Earthjustice Attorney Rumela Roy said. “They also provide key insights into how to improve fisheries management and better protect our oceans. We are pleased that the court’s order makes clear that NMFS cannot conceal this crucial information from the public eye.”
