Fall
2003
Plundering
the Pacific
Part 1:
The CATS
Who Run
the Fishhouse
Imagine the
CEO of Weyerhaeuser appointed to run the national
forests. As part of the deal, he gets to keep his
old job. Federal law wouldn't allow it, of course.
It's a simple conflict of interest. But when it comes
to the folks who regulate ocean fishing, conflicts
of interest are not only permissible, they're a regular
part of the game. Full
story.
Western
Pacific council pushes plan to quash historic coral
reserve. Council puts corals, spiny lobster and
rare monk seal at risk so a few can profit. Full
story.
They took
millions of lobsters, and monk seal pups starved to
death. Graphic (large file).
Science
Friction. Industry resists Pew Commission’s
call for change. Full
story.
Marine
mammals killed by Pacific fisheries. Graphic
(large file).
How
to speak “fisheries”.
Full story.
Glossary
Part
2: The Rockfish Files.
Documents
show the Pacific Fishery Management Council ignored
scientific advice as it let the bottom dwellers crash.
Full story.
These
stocks are down. Hundreds of tons of imperiled
rockfish are killed and wasted as bycatch each year
in West Coast fisheries. Graphic
(large file).
Private
ownership of a public resource? The IFQ debate. Full
story.
Part
3: Essential Coral Gardens
North
Pacific council rejects plan to protect coral and sponge,
though the plan meant
little reduction in commercial fishing. Full
story.
Protecting
our Undersea Yellowstones. Scientists find
marine reserves build bigger fish and produce more young.
Full story.
From
Baja to Bering. Exploring coral and sponge
secrets along the West Coast and Alaska. Graphic
(large file).
POSTER
MAP
Net
effects: A conservation map of the North Pacific. Graphic
(very large file).
Editorials:
Fixing
our Failed Fisheries.
What
you can do for the Pacific Ocean.
More
information:
North
Pacific Ocean Conservation Directory.
Poachers
R Us
A follow up article from Dec. 31, 2003, in the Honolulu
Weekly
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©2003 Cascadia Times
Plundering the Pacific
GLOSSARY
Bycatch: Fish and other living creatures which
are accidentally caught, not sold or kept for personal use, and
usually thrown overboard, dead or dying.
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EDITION
The
Cascadia Times Fall 2003 issue, "Plundering the
Pacific," investigates the decline of the North Pacfic
Ocean and its wildlife in the wake of decades of industrial
scale fishing.
The 24-page print edition contains numerous graphics and full-color
photographs that richly illustrate this report. Please support
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Essential Fish Habitat: Waters and sea floor necessary
to fish for spawning, breeding, feeding or growth to maturity. Federal
law requires fishery councils to develop plans to protect these
areas.
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ): An area extending
from the seaward boundaries of coastal states (3 nautical miles,
in most cases) to 200 miles off the coast of the United States.
Within this area, the United States claims and exercises sovereign
rights and exclusive fishery management authority over all fish
and all Continental Shelf fishery resources.
Fishery 1. One or more stocks of fish which can
be treated as a unit, and are identified on the basis of geographical,
scientific, technical, recreational, and economic characteristics.
2. Any fishing for such stocks.
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act:
The 1976 law (amended in 1996) that governs U.S. fisheries. Congress
is considering a bill to revise the law.
NOAA Fisheries: Formerly the National Marine Fisheries
Service, this federal agency has two jobs: promoting fisheries,
and protecting ocean species from the fisheries it promotes.
Maximum Sustainable Yield: The largest long-term
average catch or yield that can be caught under prevailing ecological
and environmental conditions. Conservationists say the concept leads
to unsustainable fishing.
Optimum Yield: As defined by the Magnuson-Stevens
Act, the optimum yield is “the amount of fish which will provide
the greatest overall benefit to the Nation,” taking into account
the need for food, the local economy and the health of the stocks.
Overfishing: The rate or level of fishing mortality
that jeopardizes the capacity of a fishery to produce the maximum
sustainable yield on a continuing basis.
Overfished: A stock of fish that has been depleted
to the point where fishing can no longer be sustained. In the Pacific
region, stocks that dip below 25 percent their historical abundance
are considered overfished. The North Pacific council, however, has
refused to define at what level a stock is overfished. For most
stocks no one knows whether they’ve been overfished or not.
The studies have not been done. n
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