UN urges restrictions to longline fishing

[PatMyGreen]

Not quite the same thing as the GOM fishery but it paints a decent picture I think.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/bullet...291957/e8bfb61
The United Nations General Assembly has urged governments and fisheries management groups to take urgent steps to protect endangered sea turtles and sea birds from longline fishing.

A resolution adopted by consensus by the 191-nation assembly calls for urgent implementation of measures set out in UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)guidelines, intended to reduce bycatch deaths.

Industrial fishing vessels in the Pacific Ocean trail lines studded with hooks that can stretch out as long as 100km behind them, snaring millions of sea turtles and birds as well as the fish they target.

The FAO measures include closing some fishing areas on a seasonal or continuous basis as well as restricting particular types of fishing equipment.

But they fall short of the moratorium on longline fishing sought by more than 1,000 scientists from 97 countries in a letter delivered to UN delegates in May.
Scientists warn the migratory leatherback turtle could disappear in the next five to 30 years unless fishing techniques are altered. Robert Ovetz of the California-based Sea Turtle Restoration Project says their numbers in the Pacific have declined by 95% since 1980.

Mr Ovetz hailed the UN vote as a good first step, but says a moratorium would give time to put proven conservation measures into place to keep the leatherback from dropping into oblivion forever.

[RichT]

Good find!
Hope you dont mind me using it elsewhere?

[PatMyGreen]

Of course not. Thats why I posted it!

[Hank49]

This is good. I hope shrimp trawling is next. It's amazing that two years ago the shrimp trawlers in the gulf got the US government to slap tarriffs on imported shrimp from Thailand, China and Brazil....and India I think saying that they were unfairly dumping shrimp at low prices into the US. WTF? With all the damage they do and I'm 100% sure that farmed shrimp can supply all the world's demand tomorrow.

[Steve Bennett]

Hank, be careful about the shrimp comments. Many Gulf natives will agree with me when I say there is no comparison between farmed raised shrimp and our Gulf shrimp. Many Florida shrimpers and their families have gone under because of the imported shrimp. I see more and more deserted shrimp boats everyday because of this.

[PatMyGreen]

That is because netting them is horribly inefficient! Farm raising them on a large scale is more economical. The only difference between farm raised shrimp and gulf shrimp is they way they are caught! You are just way more likely to buy frozen shrimp from a farm. If you get them fresh from a farm and fresh from a boat you cannot tell the difference.

We in the US are way behind the curve on aquaculture and it will be our only way to catch up and eliminate the 7 billion dollar deficit in seafood, IMHO.