IMMP and Friends Urge Congress to Pass Ban on Last Drift Gillnet Fishery
By Mark J. Palmer
For a number of years, environmentalists and animal welfare advocates have pushed to end the last drift gillnet fishery in the United States.
The fishery, based out of southern California but ranging north into other coastal areas of the US, is aimed at catching swordfish and sharks, but the mile-long nets also entangle whales, dolphins and endangered sea turtles.
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA) offered new legislation this session for Congress to close down the fishery for good. (In fact, Senator Feinstein had previously pushed such legislation through an earlier Congress, only to have former President Donald Trump veto it for obscure reasons.)
Congress is back in session until the middle of December, and this is the most promising time to gain final passage for the legislation, known as the Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction Act.
Recently, the International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) of Earth Island Institute, with help from Oceana and Earth Island’s Shark Stewards, drafted a letter and signed on 34 organizations in support, urging Congressional leadership to help pass the Act:
Animal Welfare Institute · Center for Biological Diversity · Cetacean Society International · Dolphin Connection · Defenders of Wildlife · Earthjustice · Endangered Habitats League · Endangered Species Coalition · Environmental Action Committee of West Marin · Epic-Environmental Protection Information Center · Great Old Broads for Wilderness · Green Vegans / The New Human Ecology · Humane Action Pittsburgh ·HOwling For Wolves · Humane Society of the US · Humane Society Legislative Fund ·Inland Ocean Coalition · International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute ·Marine Mammal Alliance Nantucket · NY4WHALES · NYC Plover Project · Nantucket Marine Mammal Conservation · Ocean Conservation Research · Oceana · Oceanic Preservation Society · Only One · Origami Whales Project · Pew Charitable Trusts ·Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility · Resource Renewal Institute ·Shark Stewards · Turtle Island Restoration Network · Washington Wildlife First ·Whaleman Foundation
November 12, 2022
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House U. S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 | The Honorable Charles Schumer Majority Leader U.S. Senate |
RE: Support for Passage of the Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction Act (S. 273/H.R.404)
Dear Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer:
We represent 34 organizations with millions of supporters who are concerned about the impact of drift gillnets on nontarget species of marine life, including whales, dolphins, sharks, and sea turtles.
A fur seal in Russia wears a deadly necklace of plastic netting. If it cannot be shaken off or removed by helpful humans, the seal will be slowly strangled to death as it grows and the netting gets tighter.
We strongly support the Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction Act (S. 273 – Feinstein and HR 404 – Lieu). In this session of Congress, the bill passed both the Senate (S. 273) and House (in the America COMPETES Act, H.R. 4521) with strong bipartisan support.
We strongly urge that Congress send the bipartisan Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction Act to the President’s desk to be signed into law this year.
The use of driftnets by this California-based fishery is responsible for 90 percent of the observed dolphins and porpoises killed in fishing gear along the West Coast and Alaska. The large mesh driftnets are more than a mile long and 250 feet deep with mesh greater than 14 inches. The nets are left in the ocean overnight to catch swordfish and thresher sharks but also indiscriminately capture, injure, and kill other marine species including whales, dolphins, sea lions, sea turtles, fish, and sharks. This bill will protect marine mammals and other iconic wildlife while supporting fishing opportunities.
We understand you have both supported this important legislation, and we ask you to follow through in enacting the Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction Act in the closing days of Congress.
Sincerely,
Mark J. Palmer, Associate Director
International Marine Mammal Project
Earth Island Institute
Geoff Shester, Ph.D., California Campaign Director & Senior Scientist
Oceana
David McGuire, Director
Shark Stewards
cc
The Honorable Raul Grijalva, Chair, House Natural Resources Committee
The Honorable Maria Cantwell, Chair, Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee
Senator Dianne Feinstein
Representative Ted Lieu
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Drift gillnets are a terrible plague in our oceans. They catch all kinds of marine mammals, sharks, sea turtles, and other non-target marine life. With your help, the International Marine Mammal Project is working to end the plastics plague in our oceans and to remove entangling gillnets. Your contributions will make a difference for whales and dolphins. Please donate!
