## Facts

- Under the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Secretary of Commerce approved (1983) the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Plan for Reef Fish Resources (Reef Fish FMP), which set rebuilding measures through amendments controlling quotas, bag limits, and other restrictions.
- In 2000, based on 1997 stock data, NMFS determined that Gulf red grouper was overfished.
- The Secretary prepared proposed “Secretarial Amendment 1” to the Reef Fish FMP to address red grouper harvest and rebuilding.
- A 2002 stock assessment reported that red grouper was no longer classified as “overfished,” but stock levels still had not reached the biomass associated with continuous maximum sustainable yield.
- Secretarial Amendment 1 was revised and issued in 2004 on the view that management measures remained needed to restore the stock within the Act’s rebuilding horizon (10 years, as addressed in the amendment).
- In 2004, NMFS published a rule under Secretarial Amendment 1 that set a recreational bag limit for red grouper and a commercial catch weight limit.
- In 2005, NMFS concluded recreational red grouper landings remained high and issued an interim rule that: (i) further reduced the red grouper recreational bag limit, (ii) imposed an aggregate recreational bag limit for all grouper species, and (iii) closed recreational fishing for all grouper species in the Gulf of Mexico for two months.
- The Coastal Conservation Association and the Fishing Rights Alliance challenged the aggregate grouper bag limit and the two-month recreational closure, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief under the APA and the Magnuson–Stevens Act.

## Issues

1. Whether the Magnuson–Stevens Act authorized NMFS and the Secretary to impose interim conservation measures, including an aggregate grouper bag limit and a temporary recreational closure for all grouper species.
2. Whether the interim rule was arbitrary and capricious under APA review in light of the red grouper stock assessments, catch information, and rebuilding objectives stated in the Reef Fish FMP and Secretarial Amendment 1.
3. Whether the interim rule satisfied applicable procedural requirements for interim rulemaking under the Magnuson–Stevens Act and the APA.

## Decision

- The court upheld the challenged interim measures and denied the fishing groups’ request for relief.
- The court treated the Reef Fish FMP and Secretarial Amendment 1 as part of an ongoing federal management program aimed at preventing overfishing and achieving stock rebuilding targets set by the Magnuson–Stevens Act.
- Applying APA arbitrary-and-capricious review, the court concluded NMFS reasonably relied on the administrative record (including stock assessments and harvest data) in deciding that additional recreational limits and a temporary closure were warranted to meet rebuilding goals.

## Legal Principles

- Under the Magnuson–Stevens Act, federal fishery managers may set conservation and management measures (including bag limits and seasonal closures) designed to prevent overfishing and rebuild stocks to levels capable of producing maximum sustainable yield within required time frames.
- Agency fishery rules are reviewed under the APA’s “arbitrary and capricious” standard; a court asks whether the agency considered the relevant data and explained the connection between the facts found and the measures chosen.
- Courts generally give weight to NMFS’s scientific judgments when the agency explains how stock assessments and harvest information support the selected restrictions and how the restrictions fit within the governing fishery management plan.
- Interim measures may be upheld when the record supports the need for short-term restrictions to address harvest levels and keep management on track with statutory rebuilding requirements.

## Conclusion

In *Coastal Conservation Commission v. Gutierrez*, the district court upheld NMFS’s 2005 interim rule imposing an aggregate recreational grouper bag limit and a two-month recreational closure for all Gulf grouper species, concluding the measures fell within Magnuson–Stevens authority and were supported by a reasoned explanation under deferential APA review.


Coastal Conservation Commission v. Gutierrez, 2005 WL 2850325 (2005)