Commercial fisherman in the Bay Area cannot gather spawning herring within a protected quarter-mile, a federal judge ruled, refusing to issue an injunction.
The herring season begins in January and ends in March, according to the Department of Fish and Game's website. Recent seasonal quotas generally range around 3,000 tons, but a decline in fish led to the cancelation of the entire season in 2009.
U.S. officials informed Bay Area fisherman in November 2012 that fishing would not be allowed within one quarter of a mile offshore of the shoreline of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Stretching from Tomales Bay near Point Reyes to Fort Funston south of Ocean Beach, the national park includes most of coastal southwestern Marin and western San Francisco.
The San Francisco Herring Association (SFHA) filed suit this past April, arguing that no federal law empowers the Interior Department to regulate fishing or other activities in the coastal areas in question.
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