Bottom Trawling Banned In 150,000 Square Miles Off West Coast - ENN

[hatrack]

LOS ANGELES — Federal fishery regulators imposed a permanent ban Wednesday on bottom trawl fishing in nearly 150,000 square miles of federal waters off the West Coast.

In making the decision, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration rejected a proposal crafted by environmentalists and the fishing industry that would have covered twice as much area. The agency also decided against listing 13 oil derricks within the waters as "habitat areas of particular concern," a designation that might have slowed efforts by some environmentalists and coastal residents to have the structures removed.

Wednesday's action was spurred by a lawsuit by environmental groups that accused the federal government of mismanaging fish habitat.

Janis Searles, a senior counsel for Oceana, one of the groups, said she was glad the derricks weren't granted special protection but disappointed the trawling ban didn't cover a wider area. "It's a bittersweet decision," she said.

EDIT

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=10030

[Divernan]

1. Bans are worth shit unless they are enforced & there are major penalties.

With Bush's budget cuts and the further cuts we'll see as we try to get out of the fiscal black hole left behind by Bush, there will be very little regulation/oversight. Right now, when foreign fishing vessels in protected waters see any official boat approaching, they simply cut loose their fishing nets - described as walls of death which then entangle and kill all sealife it touches. These nets are miles long, and last forever.

[Nihil]

2. No sex threads! :-)

On a more serious note, as .1 remarked: policy statements aren't
worth a sausage unless they are enforced. Nice to see that the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are keeping such
a watchful eye on their responsibilities that the fisheries and
environmentalists have to join forces to wake them up.