New York v. Raimondo

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a federal district court that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) did not violate the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) or the Administrative Procedure Act when it set summer flounder quotas in a 2020 allocation rule. The court rejected New York State’s contention that by failing to allocate a higher quota to New York, the 2020 allocation rule ignored northward migration of the summer flounder population (which, New York alleged, was attributable in part to ocean warming) and was therefore inconsistent with four of the MSA’s 10 national standards for fishery management plans. The Second Circuit found that the 2020 allocation was “based upon the best scientific information available” (one of the factors), including information about the northward shift in summer flounder population, because the allocation included “surplus quotas” that increased New York’s quota from 7% to 12% during surplus periods. The Second Circuit also found that the NMFS could base its rule on “multiple sets” of “scientific information,” not just location data. The Second Circuit further found that the NMFS had explained its balancing of the three other standards that New York argued were inconsistent with the allocation. Those three standards were related to fair and equitable allocation of fishing privileges to residents of different states and consideration of efficiency and minimization of costs.