New swordfish fishery will be prevented from opening on the high seas of the Pacific
The federal Pacific Fishery Management Council voted on Saturday, April 4 to maintain a standing prohibition on a West Coast-based high seas longline fishery. The vote will prevent the opening of a new swordfish fishery that would threaten migrating loggerhead sea turtles and other marine wildlife on the high seas of the North Pacific Ocean.
"We are proud of the Council for its decision to not add an additional threat to already struggling ocean wildlife," said Ben Enticknap, Pacific Project Manager of Oceana.
The National Marine Fisheries Service had proposed to open this fishery that would target swordfish on the high seas of the North Pacific Ocean more than 200 miles off the coast of California and Oregon. A West Coast-based high seas longline fishery operated for more than a decade until a court ruling in 2001 closed much of the high seas fishing area to protect threatened loggerhead sea turtles migrating between nesting beaches in Japan and foraging grounds in Baja California. Longline gear used to target swordfish off California, within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (out to 200 miles from shore) has been prohibited since at least 1977 due to environmental concerns.
"This decision by the federal fishery Council demonstrates responsibility for the conservation of critically endangered leatherback sea turtles, loggerhead sea turtles, dolphins, whales, and in avoiding the bycatch of sharks and other fish" added Enticknap, "all of which were at risk by the proposed swordfish longline fishery."