Oceana Appeals Court Ruling on Failure to Protect Corals and Sponges in Gulf of Alaska
Oceana calls on fishery managers to protect seafloor habitat from bottom trawling
Press Release Date: December 8, 2025
Location: Anchorage, AK
Contact:
Jamie Karnik | email: jkarnik@oceana.org | tel: Jamie Karnik
Oceana, represented by Earthjustice, filed notice that it will appeal a U.S. district court’s dismissal of their lawsuit challenging federal fishery managers’ failure to protect corals, sponges, and other seafloor habitats in the Gulf of Alaska. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) have consistently failed to minimize adverse effects to essential fish habitats from bottom trawling, a form of fishing where massive, weighted nets as long as a mile can be dragged up to fifteen miles along the seafloor, damaging and often destroying everything in their path.
The Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requires that fishery managers to identify conservation actions to protect what is known as “Essential Fish Habitat,” corals, sponges or other habitat areas critical for the breeding, feeding, and spawning of halibut, salmon, rockfish, black cod, crab, and other species important to commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishing. The National Academy of Sciences has long identified bottom trawling as the greatest threat to these seafloor habitats.
“The science is clear, and so is the law — deep-sea corals and sponges are critical to the health of fisheries and ocean ecosystems, and federal law requires fishery managers to protect them for that very reason,” said Ben Enticknap, Fisheries Campaign Director and Senior Scientist at Oceana. “Some corals in the Gulf of Alaska are hundreds of years old, and it’s terrifying to think that they are vulnerable to the destruction of a trawl net when there are reasonable and responsible ways to protect them while still allowing for productive fisheries.”
“Federal fisheries managers have failed to uphold their statutory duty to minimize harm to important seafloor habitats from the destructive effects of trawl fishing” said Earthjustice Senior Attorney Kate Glover. “We’re asking the appellate court to take a closer look at the way these managers analyze adverse fishing impacts on vulnerable corals and sponges and require them to meet their statutory obligations to protect essential habitats that support the fisheries they manage.”
Oceana submitted an updated Gulf of Alaska Habitat Protection Proposal to the NPFMC as the fishery council takes up the issue of Essential Fish Habitat at its meeting this week in Anchorage, Alaska. Oceana’s science-based proposal would protect more than 90% of the Gulf of Alaska from destructive bottom trawling, while displacing no more than an estimated 7% of recent trawl fishing areas. Oceana’s approach largely limits trawling to where it already occurs to protect pristine, untrawled areas while identifying important areas like coral gardens within the trawl footprint that require additional protection.
Fishery managers have established extensive habitat protections throughout Alaska, including in the Aleutian Islands, Northern Bering Sea, and U.S. Arctic Ocean. Yet, more than 90% of the central and western Gulf of Alaska remains open to bottom trawling, which devastates seafloor habitats, impacts the ocean’s resilience to climate change, and can be extremely wasteful with high levels of bycatch.
A Gulf of Alaska research expedition by Oceana documented coral gardens, sponges, and other living habitat in areas currently open to bottom trawling. Images from that expedition like those of a lingcod next to a gorgonian coral, seafloor habitat diversity, and fragile hydrocorals only further underscore the need for precaution and habitat protection in this important ocean region. NOAA Fisheries also conducts ongoing expeditions in the Gulf of Alaska.
Oceana’s notice of appeal was filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Click here to see an interactive story map about protecting seafloor habitats in the Gulf of Alaska.
Click here for a folder of images of seafloor habitat in the Gulf of Alaska.
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Oceana is the largest international advocacy organization dedicated solely to ocean conservation. Oceana is rebuilding abundant and biodiverse oceans by winning science-based policies in countries that control one-quarter of the world’s wild fish catch. With more than 325 victories that stop overfishing, habitat destruction, oil and plastic pollution, and the killing of threatened species like turtles, whales, and sharks, Oceana’s campaigns are delivering results. A restored ocean means that 1 billion people can enjoy a healthy seafood meal every day, forever. Together, we can save the oceans and help feed the world. Visit Oceana.org to learn more.
Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people’s health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.
