CIT Vacates Comparability Finding on New Zealand Fisheries

The Court of International Trade on Aug. 26 vacated and remanded the National Marine Fisheries Service's comparability findings regarding New Zealand's "West coast, North Island multi-species set-net and trawl fisheries" in a suit from conservation group Maui and Hector's Dolphin Defenders NZ seeking an import ban on fish from these fisheries. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves held that NMFS' findings are "arbitrary and capricious" and that the agency's decision memorandum is a "cursory seven-page document that is replete with conclusory statements and cites minimal record evidence." However, the judge stopped short of ordering NMFS to implement an import ban, merely leaving this possibility on the table should the agency continue to issue an unsupported conclusion.