CalPIRG has collected innumerable signatures denouncing overfishing and has organized an event to educate people on environmentally harmful fishing practices and garner support for a resolution against overfishing. Margaret Howe, CalPIRG campus organizer, said that they are collecting petitions to take to a [Regional Fishery Council] meeting in April to show that students are concerned about overfishing and want fish and the environment to be sustained.
Jessica Read, CalPIRG ocean students campaign worker, informed that the method of trawl fishing is certainly not favourable as its vast net dragging across the ocean floor, destroying deep sea inhabitants like coral and sea turtles and producing a large amount of bycatch.
The organization has sent the petitions in support of amending the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act which was passed in 2006, mandating an end to overfishing by 2010. The legislation designed to improve the act is called National Fishing Standard 1. It will set numerical annual catch limits at levels that minimize the possibility of overfishing, set catch levels under recommended level and impose penalties for exceeding the limits. If the bill passed it will become milestone in fishing industry of the world.
According to Howe the bill would primarily affect commercial fishers because of the cost and manpower required to operate a trawler – a vessel that uses trawl nets. There is another method, long line fishing, which needs to be addressed.
