The US National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has issued a proposed rule to upgrade the classification of the California swordfish and thresher shark drift gillnet fishery from Category II to the more serious Category I listing for its deadly take of whales, dolphins, seals and sea lions.
This re-classification is the result of the fishery injuring and killing an estimated 16 endangered sperm whales in 2010, taken in mile-long drift nets used to target swordfish off the California coast. Over the last five years, the fishery also caught numerous minke whales, humpback whales, gray whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals. Oceana has applauded the agency for taking an important step in what will hopefully lead to the drift gillnet fishery being phased out, closed, and replaced with cleaner gears like harpoons.
While this Category I listing highlights the fact that these driftnets continue to kill unacceptably high numbers of endangered and protected whales and dolphins off California, simply issuing new government permits is not the solution, said Ben Enticknap, Pacific Campaign Manager and Senior Scientist with Oceana. It’s time this wasteful and destructive fishery is phased out and closed once and for all.
It’s shameful that the California legislature and federal government continue to allow this destructive, unsustainable gear type, said Geoff Shester, California Program Director of Oceana. Drift gillnets have no place off California, and the real question is how to harvest swordfish without destructive bycatch.
The Category I listing requires the fishery to take onboard observers and to comply with take reduction plans. These plans, however, are still in question while NMFS undertakes a new biological consultation required by the Endangered Species Act for the fishery’s impacts on threatened and endangered species of whales and sea turtles.
This listing is required under the Marine Mammal Protection Act for a fishery that frequently kills or injures marine mammals. This proposal would make California’s swordfish drift gillnet fishery the only Category I fishery on the U.S. West Coast or Alaska.
It is clear drift gillnets continue to threaten the health of the wild marine ecosystem off our coast, said Enticknap. With cleaner, economically viable alternative gears available, there is no reason to continue to permit these walls of death.
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