FISHERIES

The ocean is vast, but it’s not infinite or indestructible. When humans harvest fish and other wildlife from our world’s seas, marine ecosystems and species feel the impact. In fact, most of the changes in the ocean we observe today — as well as the most immediate threats to marine species — are the result of unsustainable fishing.

First of all, too much fishing depletes marine species, often to the point of imperilment. Recent studies have documented the decline of 90 percent of large marine fish, and many marine animals now on the endangered species list, such as the white abalone, were put there largely by harvesters who didn’t know when to quit. Fisheries have had catastrophic effects on the ocean by disrupting the food chain, depleting water quality, destroying habitat, harassing and displacing wildlife, and otherwise altering the overall marine ecosystem.

And wherever there’s fishing, there’s bycatch — fisheries’ wasteful and unintentional capture of unwanted species. Commercial fishing creates millions of tons of discarded catch annually, including not just fish species but turtles, marine mammals, sharks, and even seabirds. Appallingly, hundreds of thousands of federally listed loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles are caught each year, with tens of thousands drowning as a result.

To protect and restore ocean species and ecosystems, the Center promotes better regulation of industrial fisheries, primarily targeting those fisheries that have the highest rate of bycatch — especially those affecting imperiled species such as the endangered leatherback. Our efforts have led to the total closure of the two most destructive California-based fisheries, a longline fishery for swordfish and a nearshore set-gillnet fishery in Monterey Bay and along the central California coast, both of which occurred within leatherback feeding grounds. Similar efforts led to a seasonal restriction of an offshore drift-gillnet fishery for swordfish and sharks that prohibits the use of this deadly gear off the central and northern California coasts when leatherback sea turtles are in the area. We’ve also forced reforms or closures of fisheries off Hawaii, the East Coast, and even Antarctica. In 2008, a petition filed by the Center and Turtle Island Restoration Network impelled the U.S. Commerce Department to consider banning swordfish imported from countries whose fishing practices aren’t as marine mammal-safe as U.S. methods.

Unfortunately, under the Bush administration, no environmental victory is secure. In 2006, the administration proposed to reopen California waters to longlines and drift-gillnets. New Center litigation caused the government to delay the gillnet permit in 2006 and finally abandon it in June 2007, and two months later, Center efforts led to the rejection of the longline permit. We’ll continue our work to maintain California’s waters as a true sanctuary for leatherbacks and other species, and we’re expanding our efforts to better reign in additional industrial fisheries in Hawaii and Alaska and on the East Coast, and we’re in fact seeking to improve fishing practices throughout the world. In February 2008, we petitioned the U.S. government to impose a ban on imported swordfish until countries provide proof that their practices are at least as safe for marine mammals as are those of United States fisheries. We advocate for Endangered Species Act protection for numerous species imperiled by fisheries across the globe, be they sea turtles and seabirds that drown as bycatch or abalone and sturgeon that are the targets of the fisheries themselves.