California Sea Urchin Commission v. Bean

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's decisions in favor of the Service in consolidated cases brought by fishing industry groups challenging the Service's decision to end a 1987 sea otter translocation program. After determining that plaintiffs had standing, the panel held that the Service acted lawfully in terminating the southern sea otter relocation program authorized by Public Law 99-625. The panel explained that, in light of the expressly stated goals of Public Law 99-625, it was reasonable to interpret the "mandatory" language in the statute as conditioned on an ongoing successful translocation program. The panel also held that, in the circumstances here, where the agency has discretion to implement an experimental program, it can reasonably interpret the statute to allow it to terminate that program if the statute's purpose was no longer being served. View "California Sea Urchin Commission v. Bean" on Justia Law