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Fisherman's Finest, Inc. v. United States, No. 21-2326 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 8, 2023)
Fisherman's Finest, Inc. v. United States, No. 21-2326 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 8, 2023)
Fisherman's Finest, Inc. v. United States, No. 21-2326 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 8, 2023)
v.
UNITED STATES,
Defendant-Appellee
______________________
2021-2326
______________________
III
Attempting to overcome our precedent in Conti and
American Pelagic, FFI argues those cases were decided be-
fore Congress amended the Magnuson–Stevens Act in
2007, which, in FFI’s view, altered the nature of fishing en-
dorsements, licenses, and permits such that they now bear
the traditional hallmarks of compensable property 2—i.e.,
transferability, exclusivity, and irrevocability. See Appel-
lants’ Br. 4, 23–31, 34–39; Appellants’ Reply Br. 2; Oral
Arg. 2:48–3:36. We disagree. Consistent with our holdings
in Conti and American Pelagic, the language of the
amended Magnuson–Stevens Act and the Fisheries Ser-
vice’s regulations maintain FFI’s LLP licenses and QS per-
mits as non-compensable, revocable privileges. 3
Even though Conti and American Pelagic were decided
before the Magnuson–Stevens Act was amended, neither
the amended Magnuson–Stevens Act nor the Fisheries Ser-
vice’s subsequent regulations governing limited access
privilege programs (e.g., the A80 program) made FFI’s fish-
ing licenses and permits compensable property. The
amended Magnuson–Stevens Act continues to expressly