<
https://worldanimalnews.com/plans-to-protect-pacific-humpback-whales-from-deadly-entanglements-finally-put-in-place-following-major-court-win/>
"The National Marine Fisheries Service agreed today to establish a team to
reduce whale entanglements in a federal fishery off the West Coast in a legal
agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity.
In March, a federal court ruled in favor of the Center in a lawsuit challenging
the Fisheries Service’s failure to protect endangered Pacific humpback whales
from deadly entanglements in sablefish pot gear off the coasts of California,
Oregon, and Washington.
“I’m relieved this agreement will give endangered humpbacks much-needed
protections from entanglements, but the agency shouldn’t have been ignoring the
whales to begin with,” said Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the
Center. “Entanglements are truly horrific for humpback whales, causing
starvation, severe injuries and usually death. We still can’t trace most
entanglements to their source, but this commitment from the agency will put
fewer lethal obstacles in humpbacks’ way.”
The Center last year challenged an agency permit that horrifically allowed the
fishery to entangle and kill endangered humpback whales without any measures to
reduce that harm or a clear plan to implement measures in the near future.
In his March ruling, U.S. District Court Judge James Donato said the Service
“cannot indefinitely delay developing a take reduction plan while continuing to
authorize…permits for the incidental take of endangered and threatened humpback
whales.”
Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, commercial fisheries that occasionally
or frequently kill or seriously injure endangered marine mammals must have only
a negligible impact on the species or population to qualify for an “incidental
take” permit."
Via
Future Crunch:
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-clean-energy-aids-big-cats-africa/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
