[IMC-Boston-Dispatch] Fwd: Endangered Turtles May Lose Protections on W. Coast

Wed Aug 3 08:26:24 PDT 2005

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Robert Ovetz" <GMT.513804.807667 at prnews2.com>
> Date: August 2, 2005 5:15:11 AM EDT
> To: news at jamaicaplaingazette.com
> Subject: Endangered Turtles May Lose Protections on W. Coast
> Reply-To: robert at seaturtles.org
>
>
> SEA TURTLE RESTORATION PROJECT
> POB 400/40 Montezuma Avenue • Forest Knolls, CA 94933 USA
> Ph. +1 415 488 0370 ext. 106• Fax +1 415 488 0372
> robert at seaturtles.org • www.seaturtles.org
>
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
>
> Endangered Turtles May Lose Protections on West Coast
> Fisheries Council Sub-Groups to Propose Gutting Rules Limiting  
> Deadly Fishing Technologies
>
>
> August 1, 2005
>
> Contact:
>
> Robert Ovetz, Sea Turtle Restoration Project, PhD, +1 415-488-0370  
> x106, robert at seaturtles.org
> Forest Knolls, California – On August 3-5, two sub-groups of the  
> Pacific Fisheries Management Council, which is responsible for  
> managing fisheries off the coasts of California, Oregon, and  
> Washington, will be considering controversial proposals to gut  
> rules to protect endangered species. Most at risk is the Pacific  
> leatherback sea turtle, the largest turtle in the world.  
> Environmentalists are rallying to the defense of the existing rules  
> which have been seen as an international model for protecting  
> marine ecosystems.
> In response to lawsuits by environmentalists, the National Oceanic  
> and Atmospheric Agency Fisheries agency banned longline fishing on  
> the West Coast and restricted gillnets, also known as "curtains of  
> death," to protect endangered sea turtles and other marine species.  
> On August 3-5, the Pacific Fishery Management Council's Highly  
> Migratory Species Management Team and Highly Migratory Species  
> Advisory Subpanel will be considering proposals to reverse or  
> weaken these rules putting these species, some of which teeter on  
> the brink of extinction, at greater risk of being injured or killed.
> Most at risk is the critically endangered leatherback sea turtle.  
> Estimated to be 100 million years old, scientists now warn that it  
> could go extinct in the Pacific in the next 5-30 years unless  
> efforts are made to reduce the threat of being injured or killed by  
> longlines and gillnets. The number of female nesting Pacific  
> leatherbacks has declined by 95% since 1984. The US Pacific Coast  
> is an important migratory route and foraging area for leatherback  
> sea turtles.
> "These rules are crucial for protecting the leatherback and other  
> marine species from being injured or killed by gillnets and  
> longlines. Eliminating rather than strengthening protections for  
> these critically endangered turtles would be a huge and possibly  
> irreversible mistake," said Todd Steiner, Executive Director of Sea  
> Turtle Restoration Project.
> After the Hawaiian longline fishery was shut down by a federal  
> district court in 1999 for catching too many sea turtles, about  
> three dozen Hawai'ian longline vessels flouted a gap in federal  
> regulations by moving their swordfish operations to California.  
> Last March, NOAA Fisheries banned California longlining. The  
> closure was in response to a decision by the 9th Circuit Federal  
> Court of Appeals that the council had violated the Endangered  
> Species Act by failing to properly evaluate the impact of  
> longlining on these species.
> According to the Pacific Fisheries Management Council's website,  
> allowing longline vessels fishing for swordfish to use "circle  
> hook" fishing gear would be enough to restart the fishery. The  
> "circle hook" has been widely criticized because it is being used  
> although the research has never been independently peer reviewed to  
> prove that it effectively protects sea turtles and other marine  
> species.
> "Allowing longline fishing in California again would reward  
> renegades who mocked the authority of a federal court," lamented  
> Robert Ovetz, PhD, Save the Leatherback Campaign Coordinator with  
> the Sea Turtle Restoration Project.
> In 2001, NOAA Fisheries also closed waters off Monterey Bay,  
> California, and in the vicinity north to the 45° N latitude  
> intersect with the Oregon Coast from August 15 through November 15  
> in response to the threat of a lawsuit. The region north of Point  
> Conception had recently was during El Nino years as the result of  
> another lawsuit in 2002 to protect loggerhead turtles, another  
> species facing threat of extinction due to mortality caused by  
> industrial fishing.
> Known as "curtains of death" because they catch and kill everything  
> in their path, large gillnets (also known as driftnets) were banned  
> by the United Nations on the high seas in 1991. Along with sea  
> turtles, gillnets also injure or kill sperm whales, humpback  
> whales, fin whales, Steller sea lions and other threatened and  
> endangered species.
> This year, 1,007 scientists form 97 countries and 281 non- 
> governmental organizations from 62 countries delivered a letter to  
> the United Nations urging it to implement a moratorium on  
> industrial longline and gillnet fishing in the Pacific.
> "There is no excuse for taking a step back on restricting the use  
> of gillnets or longlines. The first ones to pay the price for  
> allowing more of these curtains of death will be sea turtles and  
> other endangered marine wildlife," added Ovetz.
> Resources:
> • For a copy of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project's new book  
> Striplining the Pacific on the impact of longline fishing on the  
> Pacific leatherback go to: http://www.seaturtles.org/ 
> press_release2.cfm?pressID=259
> • For a copy of the scientist and NGO letters to the UN go to:  
> http://www.seaturtles.org/press_release2.cfm?pressID=261
> • For information about the Pacific Fisheries Management Council  
> meeting go to: http://www.pcouncil.org/events/2005/hmsmtap0705.html
> • For a review copy of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project's new  
> documentary film Last Journey for the Leatherback? contact Robert  
> Ovetz, PhD at 415 488 0370 x 106.
>
>
>
> The Sea Turtle Restoration Project is a California-based  
> international marine conservation organization that works to  
> protect sea turtles and other marine species in the United States  
> and in countries around the world. For more information about sea  
> turtles and the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, please visit:  
> www.seaturtles.org and www.savetheleatherback.com
>
>