A U.S. district court has issued summary judgment against a lawsuit filed by conservationists attempting to stop the opening of leatherback sea turtle habitat to commercial sablefish harvesting, allowing NOAA Fisheries’ plans to move forward.
NOAA Fisheries announced in December 2023 that it would open 407 square miles of the leatherback’s principal feeding area for sablefish harvesting, despite the fact that the vertical lines used for sablefish pots can entangle sea turtles. A 2012 biological opinion issued by NOAA Fisheries estimated that sablefish gear would injure or kill roughly two sea turtles over five years.
With sea turtles already in decline, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Turtle Island Restoration Network sued to stop the rule from taking effect.
“Leatherbacks are drowning horrible deaths or being seriously injured when they get entangled in pot traps, and this must stop immediately,” Turtle Island Restoration Network Founder Todd Steiner said after the lawsuit was announced in 2023. “With only a [few] thousand adult leatherbacks left in the Pacific, every single leatherback is critical to the survival of the species. Their fate is in our hands, and time is running out.”
NOAA Fisheries responded to CBD’s concerns earlier in the rulemaking process, claiming that increasing the area where sablefish harvesters can set traps will allow them to spread them out more, reducing density and the likelihood of entanglement.
The CBD and the Turtle Island Restoration Network’s lawsuit faced technical issues from the start, however. Two of the lawsuit’s three claims were dismissed in July 2024, with the court ruling that the conservation groups had failed to provide pre-suit notice to NOAA Fisheries.
A third claim – that NOAA Fisheries shouldn’t have relied on the 2012 biological opinion and should have reinitiated consultation on how the rule would impact sea turtles – was allowed to move forward.
That claim was complicated by NOAA Fisheries' decision in March to reinitiate consultation on how commercial sablefish harvesting would impact sea turtles, humpback whales, and their critical habitats. NOAA Fisheries completed a new biological opinion to support its rule in November 2024.
With a new biological opinion complete, NOAA Fisheries argued before the court that CBD and the Turtle Island Restoration Network’s final claim – that NOAA Fisheries should have reinitiated consultation – was now moot.
In her January ruling, Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California agreed, finding that there was no relief the court could offer the plaintiffs and, therefore, the court “lacks jurisdiction to consider the merits of the claim.”
Separately, CBD has pressured NOAA Fisheries to force fisheries that rely on gear with vertical lines, like the sablefish, crab, and lobster fisheries, to convert to ropeless or pop-up gear.
These alternative gears remove the presence of the vertical lines, reducing the risk of entanglement for marine animals like whales and turtles. While many in the industry have been hesitant to switch to the new gear types, pilot programs have shown some success. In December, California regulators announced they were doubling participation in a alternative gear trials.
