State, industry ask judge to lift Steller restrictions

We have a flurry of new filings in the Steller sea lion case.

As you'll recall, federal Judge Timothy Burgess last month upheld commercial fishing restrictions the National Marine Fisheries Service imposed to protect endangered Steller sea lions in the Aleutians.

However, the judge found that NMFS violated environmental law in taking the action.

He invited parties on all sides of the case to file further input on how to proceed.

The state of Alaska and industry groups want Burgess to lift the fishing restrictions while NMFS prepares an extensive environmental study. Read their filing here.

NMFS says the restrictions should stay in place while it does the study, which could take two years.

Well, sounds like we can look forward to another big ruling from Judge Burgess.