The ban on trawl fishing in critical habitat for endangered Steller sea lions, ordered last month by a federal court in Seattle, is set to take effect at noon Pacific time August 8th.
A Federal Court ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service must implement immediate and significant changes to the Alaska groundfish fisheries in order to protect endangered Steller sea lions.
Greenpeace, American Oceans Campaign, and Sierra Club Alaska asked a federal court to exclude all groundfish trawl fishing from vital Steller sea lion habitat.
In a second sweeping opinion, the federal district court of the Western District of Washington ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service is in continuing violation of the Endangered Species Act in its management of the North Pacific groundfish fisheries, the largest fishery in the North America.
Conservation groups sued the U.S. Forest Service because, in developing the new plan for Alaska's Tongass National Forest, the agency failed to consider permanent wilderness area protection for any portion of the millions of acres of undeveloped wild lands on the Tongass.
Coalition files suit in federal district court against Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to challenge the imminent leasing of more than four million acres of federal land in northwestern Alaska for oil and gas development.
Environmental groups file lawsuit demanding that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) take action to prevent the collapse of the North Pacific ecosystem.
