April 19, 2018 — History was made April 9 when the Pacific Fishery Management Council, a 14-member body that regulates fisheries on the entire U.S. West Coast, voted unanimously to protect more than 136,000 square miles of seafloor habitat that includes corals, sponges, rocky reefs and undersea canyons from bottom trawl fishing.
Those fragile, slow-growing habitats are important to species like rockfish, sablefish and octopus, and when they become damaged by bottom trawl fishing gear, whether by being toppled or crushed, the habitat can take centuries to recover, if ever.
In that same vote, the council also reopened 3,000 square miles of historical fishing grounds that were closed to allow depleted rockfish stocks to recover.
Read the full story at the Monterey County Weekly