Fw: Act Now! Protect Penguins and Whales from Industrial Fishing Comment Deadline This Week-Dec. 26!

[Guest guest]

Act Now! Comment Deadline This Week-Dec. 26! Protect Penguins and Whales

from Industrial Fishing

Center for Biological Diversity

 

Act Now! Comment Deadline This Week-Dec. 26! Protect Penguins and Whales

from Industrial Fishing

 

In the movie " Happy Feet, " the penguins, elephant seals and other wildlife

of Antarctica face starvation as a result of industrial fishing fleets

depleting the fish these animals rely upon for food. Unfortunately, this

part of the movie is not entirely fiction. Industrial fleets fishing for

krill and toothfish (marketed in the United States as Chilean Sea Bass) ply

the rich waters of the Southern Ocean, catching not just the target species,

but seabirds and marine mammals as well. In some areas the fishing pressure

is intense enough that food competition with penguins and marine mammals is

likely.

 

Officials within the Bush administration apparently haven't seen " Happy

Feet " - or if they have, they've ignored the message. Last month the

National Marine Fisheries Service completed its environmental review on a

plan that would open the door to increased harvest of krill, icefish, and

toothfish, essential food for penguins, seals and whales. The plan also

would make it easier for illegally caught toothfish to be imported into the

United States; authorizes a new toothfish longline fishery that poses a

threat to albatross and whales; allows a trawl fishery that drowns Antarctic

Fur Seals; and permits destructive bottom trawling.

 

Nevertheless, the happy ending of " Happy Feet " is still possible. The

National Marine Fisheries Service is accepting comments on its management

plan for Antarctic fisheries until Dec. 26. Take action today and demand

that fishing for krill and toothfish be banned in Antarctic waters and that

imports of toothfish into the U.S. be suspended.

 

 

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):

Robert Gorrell

SEND A LETTER ONLINE:

http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/penguins_whales/

 

Below is the sample letter:

CCAMLR.FPEIS: Prohibit Toothfish and Krill Fishing

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

I am writing to ask that you adopt the most environmentally protective

alternatives contained in the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact

Statement regarding the management of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.

 

Specifically, NMFS should adopt alternatives which prohibit U.S. vessels

from fishing for toothfish, icefish, and krill (Alternatives A4, B4, C4, D4,

E5, F4, and G4), and which prohibit longline fishing (Alternative J2) and

destructive bottom trawling (Alternative K4). Additionally, as the United

States is the world's largest importer of toothfish, NMFS should suspend all

toothfish imports until it can be demonstrated that the harvest is

sustainable and that measures have been taken to ensure that bycatch of

seabirds and marine mammals is eliminated. The United States should not be

supporting an industry which threatens to drive not just the toothfish, but

also many albatross species to extinction. Finally, given the significant

impacts of global warming on Antarctic ecosystems, NMFS must not authorize

any activities that impact seabirds and marine mammals, or their prey,

without first analyzing the effects of global warming on these species.

 

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Sincerely,

 

Annelisa Johnson

 

We encourage you to pass on this alert to friends, list serves and other

action alert services. Anyone can participate at:

actionnetwork.org/campaign/penguins_whales

 

Take Action!

Instructions:

Click here to take action on this issue

http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/penguins_whales/

 

 

What's At Stake:

 

While no place on Earth has escaped the impacts of human activity, the

waters off Antarctica, particularly the Ross Sea, comprise some of the most

intact marine ecosystems remaining on the planet. However, the whales,

seals, penguins, albatrosses, fish and other marine life in these waters are

facing the dual threats of global warming and industrial fishing.

Unfortunately, the Bush administration is ignoring the one while expanding

the other.

 

Fishing in the rich waters off Antarctica is governed by an international

treaty, the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living

Resources (CCAMLR). While the CCAMLR management scheme is one of the few in

the world that theoretically incorporates ecosystem-based management

principles into its decision-making, it has not prevented the severe

overfishing of toothfish, a long-lived species marketed in the U.S. as

Chilean Sea Bass. Nor does this management regime factor in the significant

impacts global warming is having on krill stocks, or on the species such as

whales and penguins dependant on krill. A study published in the journal

Nature in 2004 documented declines in krill stocks by up to 80 percent since

the 1970s in the southwest Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. This is

the area where most krill fishing occurs.

Krill is generally caught for use as feed stock for aquaculture such as for

farmed salmon. However, krill fishing vessels don't just catch krill; they

also catch and drown seabirds and marine mammals. One U.S.-flagged krill

vessel killed 138 Antarctic Fur Seals in a five-week period in 2004, making

it perhaps the deadliest fishing vessel to marine mammals of any flying the

U.S. flag.

 

Longline fleets fishing for toothfish have not only severely depleted

toothfish populations but also hook and drown scores of albatross. Of the

21 albatross species, 19 are now considered Threatened, primarily as a

result of longline fishing. Sperm Whales and Killer Whales, which eat

toothfish off the longlines, also become hooked or entangled in the fishing

gear, and consequently drown or are shot by fishermen.

 

The U.S. operates a relatively small portion of the fishing fleet in

Antarctic waters but is the world's largest importer and consumer of

toothfish.

 

Last month the Bush administration completed its environmental review on a

plan that would open the door to increased harvest of krill and toothfish by

U.S vessels. The plan authorizes a new toothfish longline fishery which

poses a threat not just to toothfish populations but to albatrosses and

whales. The plan would also eliminate permit requirements for harvest of

toothfish in large areas of the Southern Ocean not subject to CCAMLR

requirements, and make it easier for illegally caught toothfish (marketed as

Chilean Sea Bass) to be imported into the United States.

 

The pending plan also allows a mid-water trawl fishery for krill, which not

only removes this important food source for seabird and marine mammals but

also directly kills them. Additionally, the plan would allow bottom

trawling on the relatively undisturbed continental shelf off Antarctica.

Bottom trawling is one of the most destructive forms of fishing practiced;

heavy steel chains are dragged across the seafloor, crushing and killing any

creature that can't get out of the way of the trawl gear and accompanying

net, and quickly reducing a complex ocean habitat to a muddy barren. Bottom

trawling has been banned from many areas of the United States, and efforts

are underway to internationally prohibit this destructive practice. It

should certainly be banned in Antarctic waters.

 

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is currently accepting comments

on this misguided proposal. Please take a minute and send an e-mail or

write a letter to NMFS and demand that fishing for krill and toothfish be

banned in Antarctic waters, that imports of toothfish be suspended, that

bottom trawling be banned, and that any decisions regarding Antarctica must

take global warming into account. The comment deadline closes Dec. 26.

 

Comments may be e-mailed to CCAMLR.FPEIS or sent via mail or fax to

Robert B. Gorrell

Fishery Management Officer

Office of Sustainable Fisheries-SF3

National Marine Fisheries Service

1315 East-West Highway

Silver Springs, MD 20910

Fax:(301) 713-1193

 

Campaign Expiration Date:

December 26, 2006

http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/penguins_whales/