Ninth Circuit Nixes District Court's 'Too Broad' Arctic Seal Habitat Ruling

LitNews.ai Staff · March 25, 2026 · Ninth Circuit

Panel: Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown, Circuit Judge Michelle T. Friedland, Circuit Judge Jennifer Sung · Opinion by: Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown

The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday reversed a federal judge's decision that National Marine Fisheries Service's critical habitat designations for two Arctic seal species were too broad, saying the agency properly identified essential features and wasn't required to consider foreign conservation efforts.

The case stemmed from NMFS's 2022 designation of roughly 160 million acres of critical habitat off Alaska's north coast for the Pacific bearded seal and Arctic ringed seal, both listed as threatened species in 2012. Alaska challenged the designations as overly broad and argued the agency failed to explain why the entire designated areas were essential to the seals' survival and why smaller areas wouldn't suffice.

Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown rejected Alaska's interpretation, writing that the Endangered Species Act only requires NMFS to identify "physical or biological features" that are "essential to the conservation of the species" within occupied areas. "The adjective 'essential' modifies 'physical or biological features' that the 'specific areas' contain; it does not modify the 'specific areas' themselves," McKeown wrote, noting that Alaska's reading would stretch the statutory language too far.

The district court had sided with Alaska in September 2024, vacating the habitat designations and finding that NMFS failed to adequately explain why nearly all of the seals' occupied habitat was indispensable to their conservation. The court also faulted the agency for not considering foreign nation conservation efforts and for declining to exclude coastal buffer zones requested by Alaska and the North Slope Borough.

The decision reinstates the critical habitat designations and could influence future ESA habitat disputes. The ruling clarifies that agencies need not prove entire designated areas are essential, only that they contain essential features, and that foreign conservation efforts aren't required considerations for habitat designations despite being mandatory for species listing decisions.

Counsel

Alaska is represented by Norman D. James of Dorsey & Whitney LLP and Ronald W. Opsahl of the Office of the Alaska Attorney General.

NMFS is represented by Jacob D. Ecker, John E. Arbab, Joan M. Pepin, Astrid S. Cevallos, and Robert T. Lundman of the DOJ Environment & Natural Resources Division.

The Center for Biological Diversity is represented by Kristen Monsell and Emily S. Jeffers.

Case: The case is State of Alaska v. National Marine Fisheries Service, case numbers 24-7276 and 24-7377, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Court

Ninth Circuit

Case Name

State of Alaska v. National Marine Fisheries Service

Docket

24-7276