RECENT FEDERAL DECISIONS

January 2011

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Ninth Circuit Holds that National Marine Fisheries Service’s Approval of California Sea Lion Kill Violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act but Complied with the NEPA
Humane Society of the United States v. Locke, ___F.3d___

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has determined that the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) authorization to kill California sea lions for the protection of salmonid fishery stocks violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) but complied with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The court found that NMFS’s decision making was based on two procedural errors under the MMPA, essentially due to a failure to adequately explain its rationales for the conclusions it reached.