Despite a letter of protest signed by more than 100 scientists, a regional fisheries council has moved to open a protected area of the U.S. Pacific coast to drift gillnet fishing, a practice that kills many marine species. Since 2001, this type of fishing has been seasonally banned along most of the Oregon and California coast to protect critically endangered leatherback turtles. But the Pacific Fishery Management Council says that regulations on fishing vessels, including closing all fishing if two turtles are caught during the leatherback annual migration, are sufficient to protect the species while increasing commercial access to fishing grounds during their most productive season.
Conservation scientists fear that the turtles will be pushed even closer to the brink of extinction. "There is not a lot of leeway with this species," says David Ehrenfeld, a biologist at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, who signed the protest letter. In April, the council also will consider whether to allow longline fishing, which often catches turtles and other marine species as well. Both decisions must be approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is expected to make a decision on the proposal by the end of July.
