eh, they've been around millions of years, they can go extinct

[Guest guest]

Fisheries Commission Fails to Act to Save Sea Turtles as US and Pacific Island's

Plan is Sabotaged by Japan

 

December 16, 2005 — By Sea Turtle Restoration Project

 

POHNPPEI, MICRONESIA — This week Japan undermined the new Western and Central

Pacific Fisheries Commission's initiative to protect endangered sea turtles.

Japan's delegation rebuffed calls by the United States, Forum Fisheries Agency

(an organization of Pacific island states), United Nations, the FAO and

environmentalists to implement a mandatory plan to reduce the injury and killing

of endangered sea turtles by longline fishing in the Pacific. Some of the last

remaining leatherback beaches lie in the management area of the Commission and

the turtle is documented to migrate throughout the area.

 

" Due to obstruction by the Japanese delegation, the comprehensive plan proposed

by the United States and the Forum Fisheries Agency to protect endangered sea

turtles from longlines was not passed as a mandatory measure to be implemented

by all member states, " said Robert Ovetz, Ph.D. Save the Leatherback Campaign

Coordinator of the U.S. based Sea Turtle Restoration Project who is attending

the second meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission in

Micronesia this week. Although Article 61© requires that the Commission adopt

plans to protect non-target species such as sea turtles from destructive fishing

practices such as longlines, the Japanese delegation managed to amend the

proposed plan to make it voluntary.

 

On November 28, the United Nations General Assembly passed a sustainable

fisheries resolution that calls for closures of fishing in areas where large

numbers of critically endangered sea turtles are caught or killed as a

compromise to calls for a moratorium. The critically endangered Pacific

leatherback sea turtle is on the verge of extinction and is expected by

scientists to go extinct in the next 5-30 years unless immediate measures to

eliminate threats posed by industrial longline fishing are taken.

 

" We were hopeful that the fisheries commission would have resisted the economic

bullying of Japan and come up with a reasonable compromise that protects sea

turtles and permits longline fishing. The UN will now have no option but to

seriously consider the need for a moratorium on longline fishing in the Pacific.

Japan's behavior as an environmental pariah has left us with no other options, "

said Ovetz.

 

Earlier this year, the Sea Turtle Restoration Project delivered a letter to the

UN signed by 1,007 scientists from 97 countries and 281 non-governmental

organizations from 64 countries urging it to implement a moratorium on high seas

industrial longline fishing in the Pacific. The list of signers includes famed

primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall, Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson, oceanographer Dr.

Sylvia Earle, a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and former U.S.

astronaut Bernard Harris, Jr. M.D.

 

Resources

 

• For a copy of our position statement on the sea turtle resolution being

considered by the Commission go to

http://www.seaturtles.org/pdf/STRP.WCPFCPosStat.pdf

 

• For a copy of our recommendations and proposal for time and area closures

along sea turtle migration routes being delivered at the WCPFC go to

http://www.seaturtles.org/pdf/ACF165.pdf and

http://www.seaturtles.org/pdf/ACF167.pdf.

 

• 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 calling for a

moratorium on longline fishing in the Pacific go to

http://www.seaturtles.org/press_release2.cfm?pressID=261.

 

• For a review copy of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project's new documentary

film Last Journey for the Leatherback? contact Robert Ovetz, Ph.D. at

415-488-0370 x106.

 

About the Sea Turtle Restoration Project

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.

 

 

 

Contact Info:

Peter Fugazzotto

Sea Turtle Restoration Project

415-488-0370 x 109

peter

Steiner

Sea Turtle Restoration Project

415-488-0370 x 103

tsteiner

 

Eli Saddler, JD, MPH, MA

Sea Turtle Restoration Project

415-342-7497 (cell)

1-488-0370 x 104

eli

 

 

 

Website : www.seaturtles.org

 

Yes, the long war on Christianity. I pray that one day we may live in an America

where Christians can worship freely! In broad daylight! Openly wearing the

symbols of their religion.... perhaps around their necks? And maybe - dare I

dream it? - maybe one day there can be an openly Christian President. Or,

perhaps, 43 of them. Consecutively.

 

-- Jon Stewart