Today, a leading marine conservation organization, Turtle Island Restoration Network, placed a full-page ad in the Orange County Register calling on the legislature to end the California driftnet fishery and transition towards more sustainable fishing methods.
Today Turtle Island Restoration Network, placed a full-page ad in the Orange County Register calling on the legislature to end the California driftnet fishery and transition towards more sustainable fishing methods.
Turtle Island Restoration released graphic photos exposing the deadly bycatch of mutilated dolphins, whales, sharks and sea turtles just days before a crucial vote in the California Senate to phase out this deadly fishery.
Environmental groups this week requested NOAA Fisheries meet its legal responsibility to close Southern California waters from swordfish drift gillnets to protect endangered loggerhead sea turtles.
Turtle Island Restoration Network is leading the charge to phase out deadly driftnets. More than 250 scientists and more than 30 organizations representing 1 million members have joined us.
Over 250 scientists released a joint scientific letter opposing the deadly California driftnet fishery for swordfish, which has some of the highest bycatch rates in the world. The letter, coordinated by Turtle Island Restoration Network, specifically requests that immediate action be taken to phase out the fishery and protect the ecological integrity of California’s coastal waters.
More than 30 environmental, ocean, conservation, and activist organizations representing over 1 million members signed on to a joint letter today led by Turtle Island Restoration Network calling on California Senators and Assemblymembers to support Senate Bill 1114. This bill would end the most harmful fishing practice on the West Coast by reducing the number of damaging driftnets off the California coast by phasing out remaining driftnet fishing permits and transitioning to more sustainable deep-set buoy gear.
Turtle Island’s new report ‘The Economic Argument Against the California Driftnet Fishery’ outlines how the California driftnet fishery costs more to operate than the wealth that is created by the fishery. The just-released-report examines new data that shows the cost of regulating this dirty fishery would substantially decrease if the California swordfish fishery used more sustainable gear instead of mile-long driftnets.
Today the California Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water voted 6-0 to support Senate Bill (SB) 1114 to phase out the use of mile-long driftnets in California waters. The innovative bill sponsored by Turtle Island Restoration Network and authored by Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) lays out a commonsense transition plan to phase out the use of these mile-long nets to a new, more environmentally responsible fishing method using deep-set buoy gear.
