Environmentalists say they'll sue over bull trout

Environmentalists say they intend to sue U.S. officials unless more is done to protect threatened bull trout.

A formal 60-day notice of their intent to sue was filed Thursday by the Cottonwood Environmental Law Center, WildEarth Guardians, Cascadia Wildlands and the Western Watersheds Project.

The groups say the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service failed to evaluate the consequences of projects approved within bull trout habitat.

LINK (via: KTVZ)

CalTrout, EDC Plan to Sue Federal Government Over Deaths of Endangered Steelhead Trout

On behalf of California Trout (CalTrout), the Environmental Defense Center (EDC) has sent a 60-day Notice of Violations and Intent to Sue to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau) alleging violations of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The letter puts the Bureau on notice for its actions causing deaths of endangered Southern California steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) at Hilton Creek, below the Bradbury Dam and Cachuma Reservoir.

LINK (via:Yuba.Net)

Groups sue USFWS over bull trout recovery plan

Two Montana environmental groups are suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for again failing to follow Endangered Species Act requirements, this time as they relate to bull trout.

LINK (via:The Bozeman Daily Chronicle)

Montana - Wyoming Water Dispute

A legal clash over water rights goes to trial this week as attorneys for Montana press their case that Wyoming farmers and oil and gas companies are sucking too much water from tributaries of the Yellowstone River.

The trial comes more than six years after Montana sued its southern neighbor before the U.S. Supreme Court for supposed violations of the Yellowstone River Compact. That agreement governs water use in a basin that includes portions of Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota.   

LINK (via: The Missoulian)

"IGFA had told me before they had never had a rule against a lure like mine”

Rodney Ply reeled in the fish of his life last year on a lake in Arkansas but now the fight over that giant 68-pound striped bass is heading to court. Ply was participating in a Mustad hooks company event offering a million dollars to anyone who caught a world-record fish with one of its products and his catch beat the record by four pounds........ that will be one million dollars please.

Not so fast.

The International Game Fish Association ruled that the scale was fine and the weight was legitimate but rejected the record based on the lure that Ply used to catch it. What's a man with an Alabama/umbrella/spreader rig to do?

Ply's lawyers plan to file suit against the IGFA in the coming days. They say they believe IGFA made its ruling against Ply because it has a bias against freshwater fishing based on its own membership, which is largely made up of saltwater fishers. Ultimately winning the million dollars was a man who caught a saltwater tuna.

LINK (via: Local 10)

The first-place prize money remains in limbo

Remember the story of the fishing crew who caught the million dollar marlin in the 2010 Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament but were disqualified due to a crew member not having a valid fishing license? Well they sued, and now the case is is headed to the North Carolina Supreme Court.

LINK (via: The Charlotte Observer)