Lawsuit Seeks Protections for Marine Mammals

SAN FRANCISCO, California, August 14, 2002 (ENS) - A coalition of conservation groups has filed suit in federal court against the National Marine Fisheries Service, charging the agency with failing to protect marine mammals from the effects of commercial fishing operations. The groups say the agency must enforce the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, and take steps to reduce marine mammal deaths.

This sea lion died after becoming entangled in a fishing net. (Photo by R. Day, courtesy National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

But little progress was made by 2001 deadline, and in the lawsuit filed today, the coalition says the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the federal agency charged with enforcing the MMPA, has been falling down on the job.

"The recent beaching of dozens of whales off New England shows just how important it is for the government to protect marine mammals. But, each year, hundreds of whales, dolphins and porpoises are caught and drowned in fishing gear in U.S. waters," said Sylvia Liu, a senior attorney at Oceana. "The Bush Administration must kick into high gear to stop this needless killing."

This Irrawaddy dolphin died after becoming entangled with fishing gear. Fewer than 50 individuals of this species still live in waters off the Philippines. (Photo courtesy Cetacean Bycatch Action Network)

Some species, such as large whales, may not drown immediately, but often swim away with portions of gear or nets wrapped around them. This gear can cut into and become imbedded in the skin causing a number of debilitating and life threatening problems, which often result in a slow death.

Each year, more than 400 harbor porpoises, more than 400 common dolphins, and almost 250 pilot whales are killed by commercial fishing gear in U.S. waters.

New research released this month by the World Wildlife Fund finds that almost 60,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises are killed each year worldwide by commercial fishing practices. This is a figure three times greater than the deliberate killing of an average of 21,000 whales a year by whalers during the 20th century, a practice that caused severe declines in almost all large whale species.

A dead pilot whale on the deck of a fishing vessel. (Photo courtesy National Marine Fisheries Service)

The lawsuit also calls on NMFS to issue to Congress a long overdue report, originally due April 30, 1998, detailing the progress all commercial fisheries have made towards reducing bycatch.

"NMFS has failed time and time again to meet congressionally set deadlines for taking actions designed to prevent the needless killing of marine mammals. As it has done with so many other environmental laws, this administration believes it can simply ignore the Marine Mammal Protection Act," stated Brendan Cummings, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. "We are confident the courts will hold otherwise."

Many whale species are still declining, despite an international ban on commercial whaling, because of losses to bycatch. (Photo courtesy NOAA)

Well designed take reduction plans can help rebuild these at risk populations. To date, however, the agency has only convened six teams and completed four take reduction plans.

"To date, NMFS has failed to develop many of the take reduction plans that are warranted by scientific assessments," said Todd Steiner, director of the Turtle Island Restoration Network. "Our lawsuit calls upon NMFS to complete take reduction plans for strategic stocks that the agency itself has identified as being threatened by commercial fishing."

Three of the key populations that are the focus of the lawsuit are the harbor porpoises off of Central California, the common dolphins in the Western North Atlantic, and long finned and short finned pilot whales in the Western North Atlantic.

A gillnetter sets a net off the coast of Alaska. Gillnets, among the most widespread of fishing gear, are believed to be responsible for much of the world's marine mammal bycatch. Many experts argue that wherever there are gillnets, there is bycatch. (Photo courtesy National Marine Fisheries Service)

At the regional meeting of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy last month, a coalition of cetacean scientists recommended a number of techniques that could be used to reduce bycatch of marine mammals. Solutions to the problem of entanglement vary by region and species involved, but can include adding gillnet floats that break away when hit by a whale, acoustic "pingers" that warn marine mammals away from nets and buoy lines that are less likely to snare whales and dolphins.

Setting nets in deeper water, an inexpensive and simple strategy, can also help to reduce bycatch in some cases. Commercial fishers have been crucial in developing these successful gear modifications, the scientists noted.

More information about the lawsuit is available at: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org or: http://www.oceana.org