URGENT, SEA LIONS IN BIG TROUBLE !!!

[Guest guest]

VERY URGENT !

SEA LIONS IN BIG TROUBLE !

 

BACKDOOR CONGRESSIONAL RIDER COULD

SPELL DISASTER FOR ENDANGERED SEA LIONS !

 

We have just received critical information that last minute maneuvering

in Congress could undermine recently-enacted federal protection for

the endangered Steller sea lion!

 

Your PHONE CALLS AND EMAILS to the White House could be the

LAST CHANCE TO SAVE THE ENTIRE SPECIES, whose numbers

have crashed in recent decades because of years of ruthless

overfishing by trawling and other methods favored by modern

industrial fisheries. Groundfish trawling devastates the local ecology

wherever it passes, scooping up vast numbers of fish and other

marine life from ocean floors.

 

As a result, sea lions in many areas are literally starving to death!

Since the 1960's, some portions of the Steller sea lion population

have declined by well over 80%! The rest of the ocean ecosystem

is faring little better at the hands of the trawling industry :

harbor seals, fur seals, and fish-eating bird populations are

declining dramatically, and local king and snow crab fisheries

have collapsed.

 

In recognition of this ecological crisis, a federal court closed sea

lion critical habitat to groundfish trawlers in July of this year,

ordering the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to take a

comprehensive look at its fisheries management program and

assess its effects on endangered sea lions. The court ruling halts

trawl fishing for groundfish species in Steller sea lion habitat until

a complete environmental assessment is done.

The court will then evaluate and make a ruling on the NMFS's

findings on how best to protect Steller sea lions from extinction.

 

However, several ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL members of Congress

are trying to thwart sea lion protection by attaching an outrageous

special provision, or " rider, " to the Commerce, State, and Justice

Appropriations bill. The rider would

 

REVERSE the federal court ruling to stop trawling in critical sea lion

habitat --- nullifying the protections for sea lions mandated by the

court,

 

EXEMPTING trawl fisheries from complying with the Endangered

Species Act and the National Evironmental Policy Act.

 

It would also lift the requirement for environmental assessments that

would provide additional protections for the endangered

Steller sea lions

 

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

 

Only PHONE CALLS will make the difference now! Please

take a few moments to make these crucial phone calls to the

Whitehouse!

 

Call Chief of Staff John Podesta at : 202-456-6798

and Director Jacob Lew at : 202-395-4840.

 

Ask them to urge President Clinton to

" oppose any provisions that would undermine protections for

endangered Steller sea lions. "

 

They have helped with other anti-environmental riders, so

thank them and politely encourage them to help the sea lions!

 

 

For more information on the crisis facing the Steller sea lions,

contact Barbara Jeanne Polo, Executive Director,

American Oceans Campaign,

600 Pennsylvania Ave. SE . Suite 210,

Washington, DC 20003 /

ph: (202) 544-3526 / fax: (202) 544-5625 /

 

email: bjpolo

 

OR visit http://www.americanoceans.org/ and

http://www.stopextinction.org

 

Sample letter is at the end of this email.

=========================================

HUMANElines

A project of The Humane Society of the United States

and The Fund for Animals(202) 955-3663

http://www.hsus.org/programs/government/humanelines.html

======================================

 

Additional notes :

 

You may also email to President Clinton using Form email :

 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/Mail/html/Mail_President.html

 

President Clinton's address:

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500 U.S.A.

 

SAMPLE LETTER TO PRESIDENT CLINTON :

 

I urge you to veto a Fiscal Year 2001 Commerce, Justice, State,

and Judiciary (CJS) funding bill and any other bill that includes

provisions that would undermine protections for endangered

Steller sea lions. Stand firm in opposition to this and any other

harmful provisions that would jeopardize basic protections for our

coasts, oceans, and marine life.

 

I also ask that you let Congress know as early as possible that

you will veto its attempts to bypass the Endangered Species Act

or the National Environmental Policy Act, or to nullify court decisions

that protect Steller sea lions through stealth, political maneuvers.

 

A few Members of Congress have drafted an ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL

rider to the CJS conference report that will restrict the ability of the

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to protect endangered

Steller sea lions in coastal waters off Alaska. The proposed language,

which may be slipped into the bill in a 'behind-closed-doors maneuver'

would exempt these fisheries from Endangered Species Act and

National Environmental Policy Act requirements, and

prohibit NMFS from completing analyses, ordered by a federal court,

to guide responsible stewardship of North Pacific marine life for

two more years. It is a blatant attack on two of our Nation's most

basic environmental laws.

 

In 1960, western Alaska was home to more than 175,000 adult

Steller sea lions. Since that time, the population of Steller sea

lions in the North Pacific has drastically declined by more than

80 percent, with an estimated average rate of decline during the

1990's of more than 5 percent each year. It is essential that

anti-environmental provisions which undermine efforts to ensure

survival of Steller sea lions not be included in the final legislation.

 

Thank you for your continued work in support of our ocean environment.

 

Sincerely Yours,

name,

address.