UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN ... - Bizjournals

Case 1:13-cv-03241-AT Document 1 Filed 09/30/13 Page 50 of 64information NMFS might need in the final application, NMFS made no request forpopulation trend data. Application of a standard not applied to other permits isarbitrary, capricious, and not in accordance with law.113. Even assuming Defendants have not arbitrarily and capriciouslycreated a new standard allowing them to deny the Georgia Aquarium permitapplication, the relevant beluga whale population in the Sea of Okhotsk is notdeclining. To assert that the population of beluga whales in the Sakhalin-Amurarea has been declining, Defendants manipulated the data. For example,Defendants compared population surveys that multiplied by 12 the number ofwhales sighted on the surface in order to account for submerged whales withpopulation surveys that multiplied the number of whales sighted on the surface bytwo. Such results compare apples to oranges. Defendants committed numerousother errors, including using population counts deemed incorrect by the IUCNscientific review panel and comparing actual population levels in one area withminimum population levels in another area.114. Defendants assert, in the alternative, that even if PBR is the propermeasure of sustainable removals, the total number of removals from the belugawhale population in the Sakhalin-Amur area exceeds the PBR level.50