A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to overturn new halibut bycatch limits on deep-sea trawlers that fish in federal waters off Alaska.

The lawsuit was filed by Groundfish Forum Inc., a Seattle-based trawl trade group, after the North Pacific Fishery Management Council passed a rule that reduces halibut bycatch limits for many trawlers when there are fewer halibut in Alaska waters.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, in charge of implementing the rule, moved to dismiss the lawsuit, and U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason ruled in favor of the agency on Nov. 8. Undercurrent News, a trade publication, first reported on the ruling.

The lawsuit has been a major issue in fishing communities across the Gulf of Alaska. Some of those communities joined the federal government in defense, as did various fishing and conservation organizations.

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in favor of the defense, saying that they believe the federal government appropriately implemented fisheries law.

“The (North Pacific) Council has followed the processes and done the work that Congress intended,” they wrote.

The state of Alaska also filed a brief in support of the defense, calling the rule “a well-considered decision rooted in the principles of sustainability, equity and fairness among competing users and long-term conservation.”

At the core of the lawsuit was an argument about whether bycatch — fish caught while pursuing a different target species — amount to an allocation of fishing privileges, akin to the way some fishers are subject to an annual catch quota while pursuing a specific species.

The plaintiffs argued that bycatch restrictions should be considered an allocation issue. That position was opposed by attorneys representing the federal government.

Under current rules, setting allocations is a longer and more intricate process than setting bycatch rules.

Ruling in the forum’s favor “would make it more difficult for NMFS to be able to issue rules that would prevent overfishing, and it would make it more difficult for NMFS to issue rules that would minimize bycatch, especially rules that would be able to do so in an expeditious way,” attorney Erika Furlong, representing NMFS, told Gleason in an October court hearing.

Gleason declined to rule on the core question but said that the rulemaking process was “fair and equitable” and “reasonably calculated to promote conservation,” whether or not it was an allocation of fishing privileges.

Gleason also ruled against the plaintiffs’ claims that the rule violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedures Act.

Alaska elections officials added more than 8,500 ballots to the statewide count Wednesday afternoon, but the new ballots didn’t change the leaders of any races.

More significantly, the Alaska Division of Elections reported almost 5,000 more completed absentee ballots than it did on Tuesday morning. The division’s director did not immediately respond to an email seeking additional information.

If current trends continue, those new ballots may be significant for Ballot Measure 2, the proposed repeal of the state’s open primary election and ranked choice general election.

On Friday, “yes” on repeal led by 4,137 votes. By Tuesday evening, with more votes counted, that lead was down to 2,841 votes. The latest count shows “yes” leading by just 2,412 votes.

As of Wednesday, the Division of Elections reported having 159,345 early, absentee and questioned ballots.

Subtract ballots that the division said it included in its Election Day count and showed in its counts Tuesday and Wednesday, and the result is an estimated 30,033 uncounted ballots.

That figure isn’t likely to significantly rise, as it did on Wednesday. Almost all of the state’s absentee ballots have been returned, state figures show. Of 72,275 absentee ballots requested, 71,980 have been completed and returned.

Before Wednesday’s results update, the division said online that its “unofficial estimate of ballots left to be counted/received is approximately 35,000.”

If postmarked on or before Election Day, absentee ballots will still be counted if they reach elections officials by Nov. 15 (if mailed from within the United States) or Nov. 20 (if mailed internationally).

After Wednesday’s count, Republican U.S. House candidate Nick Begich saw his lead over Democratic incumbent Rep. Mary Peltola drop slightly.

After leading by 10,133 votes on Friday and 9,550 at the end of the day Tuesday, he’s now ahead by 9,435.

Given the mild trend and the number of ballots remaining, Peltola is unlikely to take the lead over Begich. But because Begich has less than 50% of the overall vote, ranked choice tabulation will be used on Nov. 20 to redistribute the votes of Alaskans who picked Alaskan Independence Party candidate John Wayne Howe or imprisoned, out-of-state Democratic candidate Eric Hafner.

Howe has 3.9% of the first-choice votes, and Hafner has less than 1%. 

While the Division of Elections won’t perform an official tabulation until Nov. 20, it has been regularly releasing the state’s “cast vote record,” which shows how Alaskans ranked their candidates.

Unofficial tallies show Peltola failing to gain enough second-choice votes to pass Begich in the tabulation.

Wednesday’s votes did not change downballot results. In the closest state House race, Rep. Cliff Groh, D-Anchorage, continues to lead Republican challenger David Nelson by 19 votes.