Turtle Island Restoration Network v. U.S. Department of Commerce

Plaintiffs challenged federal agency decisions that allowed shallow-set longline fishing for swordfish. They alleged, among other things, violations of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The federal district court for the District of Hawaii affirmed the agencies’ decisions. In doing so, the court rejected the claim that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) had violated the ESA by taking action that “deepened the jeopardy” to sea turtles posed by climate change. The court stated that “when climate conditions jeopardize a species, the ESA does not automatically prohibit the ‘taking’ of a single member of the species. This is not to say, of course, that dangerous climate conditions give rise to an ‘open season’ on a threatened or endangered species. Instead, the ESA is violated only when agency action results in a ‘take’ that appreciably reduces the likelihood of survival and recovery of a species in the wild.” The court also rejected claims that the ESA’s requirement to use “best available data” required NMFS to conduct more comprehensive studies of the effects of climate change on sea turtles.