The federal fisheries council may not care about the safety of the endangered species turtles but the state legislatures have decided upon a resolution to protect these species. A modern-day battle of state versus federal rights is underway and the outcome may determine the fate of a frequent visitor to the Monterey Bay. The innocent is a leatherback turtle, an animal estimated to have survived in our oceans for 100 million years.
It is said that the leatherback turtle is a great free swimmer known for its long ocean journeys and its voracious appetite for jellyfish. But to its detriment, the leatherback is facing a difficult foe and has become tangled up with commercial fishermen and the federal government that regulates their industry. To help the continued efforts by the non-profit Sea Turtle Restoration Project, state legislators have passed this resolution.
In this resolution the National Marine Fisheries Service was requested to deny permits to commercial long-line fishermen who fish for swordfish. Long-line fishermen bait their fishing lines, often extending more than 20 miles, with thousands of barbed fishing hooks.
If this continue at the current rate leatherback turtles could be extinct in 10 to 25 years, says scientific reports. At present the federal agencies responsible for managing West Coast fisheries have prohibited long-line fishing from within 200 miles of the coast. But if the regional management council and fishermen get their way, that policy will change and introduce long-line fishing within 50 miles of shore.
