Conservation groups intervened in the lawsuit filed by the
bottom trawlers to defend the federal bycatch regulation. The
conservation groups told the court that the federal government
is right to mandate a decrease in the amount of fish bottom
trawlers are currently throwing overboard. The boats are
discarding fish deemed uneconomic due to wrong sex, size, or
species. Hundreds of millions of pounds of wasted fish and other
marine life are thrown over the side of bottom trawl vessels
every year. The trawlers typically fish for rock sole, yellowfin
sole, flathead sole, and Atka mackerel and dump more bycatch
overboard than any other segment of the North Pacific groundfish
fishery. "The court has ruled that these companies will not be
allowed to continue wasting public resources," said Earthjustice
attorney Michael LeVine. "This case deals with a few large
vessels that still haven't turned the corner into 21st century
fishing." "The reality that hundreds of millions of pounds of
wasted fish and other marine life