For the past two decades, Marin’s Turtle Island Restoration Network has been supporting efforts to phase out the use of gillnets used for catching swordfish, because they kill sea turtles, dolphins…
A West Marin group is celebrating the advancement of new regulations that will end the use of giant ocean fishing nets — blamed for inadvertently killing turtles, mammals and dolphins — in federal waters off the state’s coast.
“Driftnets are invisible curtains of death that have indiscriminately killed and maimed whales, sea turtles and dolphins for decades off the coast of California,” said Todd Steiner, marine ecologist and executive director of Turtle Island Restoration Network. “It is a truly joyous season that the last days of this cruel fishery are ending with the passage of this bill.”
One example are leatherback turtles — listed as endangered by the federal government — which arrive off the coast of Marin in late summer to feed on jellyfish. Based on driftnet sets that were observed, one marine mammal was caught for every three swordfish; eight other fish species were discarded for every single swordfish; one dolphin was killed for every four swordfish; and a total of 92 marine mammals were caught, 87 of which were released dead. In other words, 45% of the catch is discarded; 45% is Pacific bluefin tuna, which is overfished; and only 5% of the catch is actually swordfish, according to the data.
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