PACIFIC SWORDFISH LONGLINING SHUT DOWN FROM HAWAII TO CALIFORNIA, OREGON AND WASHINGTON

In response to a court order obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity and Sea Turtle Restoration Network, the National Marine Fisheries Service shut down the U.S. swordfish longline fishery between Hawaii and the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington on 3-11-04. The ban was implemented to save endangered leatherback and loggerhead sea turtles from extinction. Longline fishing, an industrial technology that internationally sets two billion hooks per year is also the major cause of the decline of large predatory fish such as swordfish, tuna and sharks, and is responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of seabirds each year. U.S. longerlines are responsible for 5% of the hooks.

A previous lawsuit by the Restoration Network shut down the swordfish longline fishery in Hawaii, but the industry continued to operate by moving its base of operations to California. Under industry lobbying pressure, the Bush administration allowed the evasion by declaring that the fishery was exempt from the Endangered Species Act. The administration also ran roughshod over a 1993 international agreement to stop the fishing industry from switching registration from state to state or nation to nation to avoid environmental laws. The federal court, however, ordered the administration to comply with the Endangered Species Act, eventually resulting in the decision to close the fishery.

The case was argued by Brendan Cummings of the Center for Biological Diversity and Debbie Sivas of EarthJustice.

A coalition of conservation organizations and scientists including the Center for Biological Diversity has called on the United Nations to take immediate steps to save Pacific leatherback and loggerhead turtles from extinction.

It is time for an international ban on longline fishing modeled after the 1991 U.N. High Seas Driftnet Moratorium. Several factors contribute to making this moment a pivotal one for saving these two species of sea turtles. Most importantly, scientists agree that without dramatic, coordinated, international action both species will be extinct within 30 years. Two, the American government, under pressure from lawsuits is finally taking some initiative on the turtles' behalf by closing the California-based longline fishery, a major contributor to the turtles' decline. Three, the Bush administration is about to reopen the Hawaii-based long- line fishery. Finally, US-based fishing fleets are only a small part of the problem. Broad-based international cooperation is necessary, thus the appeal to the United Nations.

In response to a petition and lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list the Southwest Alaska sea otter as an endangered species on 2-11-04.

Russian and American fur trappers pushed the sea otter to the brink of extinction prior to the 20th century. After being protected by an international treaty in 1911, the species made a remarkable comeback. By 1985 the Southwest Alaska population comprised over 80% of the world's total sea otter population. In the past 18 years, however, its population has crashed from a high of about 90,000 to just a few thousand. The cause of the decline has not been determined, but may be a cascading ecological effect from hunting of whales and sea lions. As these large mammals disappeared from the food chain, orcas may have been forced to shift their hunting to sea otters. Since sea otters are the smallest marine mammal, orcas have to catch many more of them to replace whales and sea lions. The loss of the sea otters, meanwhile, is having its own cascade effect by allowing sea urchin populations to rise and devastate kelp beds.

On 5-18-04, a federal judge ruled that California's Central Valley steelhead trout should remain under the protection of the Endangered Species Act while its status is reviewed by the Bush administration. The administration is reviewing all Pacific coast salmon and steelhead to determine if they should remain on the endangered species list in light of the extensive hatchery raised fish which hybridize with them. While scientists overwhelmingly view hatchery fish as a threat to salmon and steelhead, the administration is seeking out an excuse to delist or reduce protection for the species.

Many salmon and steelhead have been delisted pending the administration's review, but the Center and other groups intervened on the Central Valley steelhead's behalf. In response, the judge found that "the scientific evidence ... indicates that the fish faces serious and irreparable harm if removed from the list and that, given its numbers, its listing is likely to be preserved after the review and update." Federal scientists have recommended that the species uplisted from a "threatened" to an "endangered" species. Central Valley steelhead trout have been lost from 95% of their historic habitat, and continue to face threats from unchecked water use, blockage by dams, urban sprawl, and polluted rivers.

The Center for Biological Diversity, the Northern California Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers, Federation of Fly Fishers, Delta Fly Fishers, Trout Unlimited, Woodbridge Rivers Company, and Pacific Rivers Council were represented by EarthJustice in the proceedings.

On 1-21-04, the Center for Biological Diversity, Ocean Advocates and other environmental groups submitted a petition to NOAA Fisheries to protect Puget Sound's Cherry Point herring under the Endangered Species Act. Once Washington state's largest herring population, it has declined by 90% in the past 30 years due to industrial development and pollution.

The Cherry Point herring is a distinct population of Pacific herring that spawns along the open shoreline north of Bellingham. Two major oil refineries and an aluminum smelter near Cherry Point have directly impacted its spawning grounds through dock construction and operation, outfall discharge, vessel traffic, and disease and foreign species introduced from ship ballast water. More than 70 spills have dumped tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil and poisoned water over the spawning grounds since the Cherry Point refineries were built in 1973. One large oil spill during spawning season could completely wipe out the population.

In addition to the Center and Ocean Advocates, the coalition includes the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, People For Puget Sound, and Friends of the San Juans.

On 1-14-04, the Center for Biological Diversity and Turtle Island Restoration Network file suit against the Bush Administration for refusing to list the white marlin as an endangered species. The white marlin is a popular target of sport fishers, but they account for less than 1% of marlin mortality while bycatch by industrial scale swordfish and tuna longliners is responsible for over 99% of reported marlin killings.

The marlin has been reduced to just 6% of its historic range in the Atlantic Ocean. It has steadily declined by 3% per year since monitoring began in the mid-1980s. The Bush administration refused to protect the marlin even though its own scientists declared that current harvest levels are unsustainable and that even under the most optimistic management scenarios, the species would continue to decline to dangerously low levels.

The suit is being argued by Brendan Cummings of the Center for Biological Diversity and Jay Tutchton of the Center's Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Denver.

On 11-20-03, the Center for Biological Diversity, Turtle Island Restoration Network, and the Hawaii community group Hui Malama i Kohola, filed suit against the Bush administration for refusing to protect Hawai'i population of false killer whales from destructive longline fishing. False killer whales are routinely injured or killed when caught on the miles of large hooks strung across the oceans by the commercial tuna and swordfishing industry. The population has only 83 individuals and is being killed at nearly 20 times the rate allowable for a sustainable population.

The suit seeks to reclassify the false killer whale from a Category III status to a Category I under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. It is being argued by Paul Achitoff of Earthjustice (Honolulu).

Center for Biological Diversity | PO Box 710 Tucson, AZ 85702 | 520-623-5252 | [email protected]

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