Largely abandoned by state tourism and small-business interests, a group of skippers who run small halibut charter boats in Alaska went into a federal court in Washington, D.C., Monday to try to stop the U.S. government from running them out of business.

Four Alaska charter companies and Charter Operators of Alaska challenged as arbitrary and capricious a new federal regulation to limit the number of charter boats in Alaska. The new rule is expected to put 327 fishing operations out of business. A motion for a preliminary injunction against the rule seeks to prohibit the U.S. Department of Commerce from enforcing the regulation until the courts can rule on its legality.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service earlier this year imposed a charter halibut permit program designed to shut down about a third of the halibut charters that fished state waters last year. The NOAA program is designed to limit competition between the charter operators, whose clients catch about 10 percent of Alaska's halibut, and commercial interests that catch more than 80 percent.

Charter operators' spokesman Jack Roskind said a decision was made to file suit in the nation's capital because of the feeling on the part of the charter businesses that the whole fisheries management system in Alaska is stacked against them. The reaction among state political leaders to the chaos in the charter business has largely been a big "so what."

"They (all) told us they're not going to help us in any way," said Roskin. "That's why we filed in D.C. There's too much commercial interest in Anchorage and Juneau."

The charter operators contend the new NOAA regulations ignore the federal "Halibut Act" and fail to meet Magnuson-Stevens Act requirements for the review of economic impacts in federal fisheries off Alaska's coast. The suit also questions whether the new halibut rules abide by Magnuson-Stevens Act requirements for fair and equitable access to fishing opportunities. The NOAA plan, the suit says, is "not fair and equitable to all halibut fishermen."

The Halibut Act is a federal law that ties the U.S. government to international management of halibut stocks that migrate around the North Pacific Ocean. It dictates that all halibut harvests be "reasonably allocated to promote conservation." But in the latest case the attorneys for the charter operators argue, no consideration whatsoever was given to conservation.

The NOAA plan, the suit alleges, "only seeks economic consolidation of the charter industry." The new rules, the suit says, are "based solely on economic allocation and not conservation."

"We are reviewing the suit,'' said Alaska Region NOAA spokeswoman Julie Speegle in Juneau. She did not know when the review would be complete and added that NOAA doesn't usually comment on lawsuits anyway.

Charter Operators of Alaska has for months been publicly protesting the new restrictions as little more than a halibut grab by powerful commercial fishing interests, but the organization has had little luck in gaining much in-state support.

The two-thirds of charter halibut operators gaining NOAA permits are largely supportive of the new program because of potential financial rewards. Along with limiting competition for clients, the program hands out permits that could be very valuable. Once charter businesses get permits, they are free to traffic in them.

Some are already being offered for sale, along with charter boats, at prices in excess of $300,000, despite lingering questions about the legality of the new permit plan. The NOAA plan is the first foray by the federal government into limited-entry for sport-fishing-related businesses.

The plan, like other federal programs for limiting participation in fisheries off the Alaska coast, is largely modeled on the state limited-entry program for commercial salmon fishing. That now decades-old program made salmon permits in the 49th state sometimes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The program has been a gold mine for commercial fishermen looking to retire or cash-out of business for other reasons.