Helping Operators Thrive in Heavily Regulated Fisheries
Marten helps fisheries clients thrive in an increasingly global marketplace by guiding them through the web of regulatory and litigation risks affecting the sector.
We represent individual commercial operators, processors, and industry trade associations in challenges to rulemaking, permitting, and enforcement, and deliver compliance assurance programs and strategic risk management solutions. When needed, we litigate under the Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, American Fisheries Act, Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, National Environmental Policy Act and other statutes implicated by our clients' operations.
From the development of catch share programs, to working through the Council process to amend fishery management plans, we represent commercial fishermen, processors and Native corporations in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Because our team includes veterans of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state attorneys general offices around the nation, Marten also benefits from relationships with regulators and public officials, helping resolve complex disputes and reach workable compromises.
Capabilities:
- Compliance with MMPA take reduction plans, catch share (IFQ) programs and negligible impact determinations
- Fishery Management Council Proceedings
- Limited Entry Programs
- Natural Resources Litigation
- Regulatory Development and Rulemaking
- Sector Allocations
- Advocacy and litigation in response to ESA listing petitions, critical habitat designations and Section 7 consultations
- MSA permitting and regulatory compliance
- General compliance, environmental, and litigation counsel to seafood processing companies
- Antitrust compliance, investigation response, and enforcement defense
