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| Subject: Central Pacific longline closer | |
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Author: Jim Day |
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Date Posted: 944705279PST Boats Banned From Pacific Swath .c The Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) - A federal judge on Monday banned swordfish boats from a million-square-mile swath of Pacific Ocean while the government determines whether the vessels are pushing sea turtles to extinction. The ban begins within 30 days and ends only when the government's environmental assessment is complete. The ruling was hailed by environmental groups seeking to protect the turtles but criticized by the industry as an economic killer. U.S. District Judge David Ezra ruled on a lawsuit filed by the Center for Marine Conservation and the Turtle Island Restoration Network against the National Marine Fisheries Service. The lawsuit, filed in February, accused the agency of violating the Endangered Species Act by allowing turtles to die on hooks baited for Pacific swordfish and the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to accurately assess fishing's impact on turtle populations. Sea turtles are among the most ancient creatures, dating 100 million years to the age of dinosaurs. All species are considered endangered or threatened because of hunting for use as food and jewelry. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of three species: the leatherback, olive ridley and loggerhead turtles. The leatherback is the largest sea turtle, reaching almost 7 feet and weighing up to a ton. All three species are found north of the Hawaiian Islands, where swordfish boats drop lines that can be 30 miles long and contain thousands of baited hooks. Sometimes turtles bite those hooks and become ``incidental catch.'' Others are strangled. Federal reports for 1991-1997 estimate that as many as 150 loggerheads, olive ridleys and leatherbacks are killed by longliners each year. The swordfish catch in American waters of the Pacific Ocean is worth about $14 million, federal officials said. ``NMFS has stood by for years and watched as leatherback populations have plummeted,'' said Paul Achitoff, an attorney for the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund representing the groups. ``This injunction increases the chance that there will still be leatherbacks left in the Pacific by the time the (Environmental Impact Statement) is finished.'' Eldon Greenberg, the longliners' attorney, said it is rare for the courts to close off large areas of ocean to fishermen. ``To impose this kind of economic burden on them could be absolutely crushing,'' Greenberg said. ``It may be that a number of these businesses may not be able to survive.'' The lawsuit sought a compromise similar to one forged with shrimp trawlers in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Concerns over turtle deaths in those waters led to the development of turtle excluder devices, which act as trap doors for turtles caught in nets. AP-NY-11-23-99 0543EST Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| Subject | Author | Date |
| Facts and fiction on...longline closer | Jim Day | 944705559PST |
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