Court grants Louisiana’s motion to join red snapper case

(WASHINGTON – September 28, 2017) Today the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the State of Louisiana’s motion to intervene in litigation brought by the Environmental Defense Fund and the Ocean Conservancy against the U.S. Department of Commerce for its decision to increase this year’s federal private angler fishing season thirteen-fold, jeopardizing the ongoing recovery of Gulf of Mexico red snapper and knowingly allowing overfishing to occur. Environmental Defense Fund and the Ocean Conservancy did not oppose Louisiana’s motion.

The following is a statement from Robert E. Jones, Gulf of Mexico Director for Environmental Defense Fund’s U.S. Oceans program:

“While Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has chosen to intervene against us in court, we did not oppose the motion because Louisiana clearly meets the legal standard to intervene, and EDF believes the State has fishery management experience and expertise that may help the court as it considers this case. EDF wants not only to ensure that the government continues to follow the law but also to spur solutions-oriented reform that provides anglers with more flexible access to fishing while making sure that future generations are able to catch red snapper.

“Fixing the broken way we manage fishing by private anglers will require innovative thinking and action, like the investments Louisiana has made to improve their private angler monitoring system and the new ideas for management they have proposed.”