On January 2, 2008 the law firm of Roetzel & Andress in Toledo, Ohio filed a complaint on behalf of the Great Lakes Commercial Fishermen, LLC against the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (Ohio DNR) and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife.
The defendants, the Ohio DNR and its Division of Wildlife, are being challenged on the constitutionality of the enforcement of restrictions and requirements on the commercial fishing industry that will affect next fishing season.
On October 10, 2007, amendments to the Ohio Revised Code through Senate Bill 77 took effect, initiating numerous changes that have and will drastically impact Ohio commercial fishing licenses and business. Such changes included permanently revoking certain licenses and permits to handle fish wholesale, enforcing new suspension and revocation requirements for licenses and permits to handle fish, restricting transferability of licenses, requiring fishermen to submit to surveillance of activities, and requiring commercial fishing licenses to pay the cost of purchasing, installing and maintaining vessel and catch monitoring devices.
These and other changes that affect the commercial fishing business have already negatively impacted the industry.
"ODNR has proposed various restrictions against commercial fishermen with the purpose of limiting and/or eliminating the industry," says Anthony Calamunci, lead attorney for plaintiff, Great Lakes Commercial Fishermen, LLC. These regulations, if allowed, will have a significant effect on society with higher costs for industry workers as well as consumers.
As the constitutionality of enforcing changes authorized by the amendments is challenged, plaintiff is demanding that the enforcement of all new requirements and restrictions to the Ohio Revised Code be prohibited to protect against the eminent extinction of the commercial fishing industry in Ohio.
Great Lakes Commercial Fishermen, LLC, an Ohio limited liability company, is comprised of a variety of members directly involved in the commercial fishing industry and regulated by the State of Ohio. Currently the licensed commercial fishermen in the State of Ohio fish from Lake Erie, where commercial fishing is regulated not only by the Ohio DNR, but also by the State of New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and the country of Canada.
