July 9, 2012 — The Pew Environment Group is urging its supporters to write to NOAA with the following message:
Dear Friend,
The United States is on the path to end overfishing and rebuild depleted ocean fish populations, thanks to the law and regulations that were put in place with overwhelming support from people like you. These gains may be in jeopardy, however. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has recently decided to reevaluate its regulatory framework and wants the public to participate. Urge NOAA not to weaken the rules that protect U.S. ocean fish.
If NOAA’s fisheries service makes any changes to its rules, it should place greater emphasis on promoting long-term conservation and protecting ecosystems. Unfortunately, the agency is considering alternatives that would weaken current guidelines by creating new delays and exemptions that could allow overfishing.Please write now to ensure the future of fish and fishing in America’s oceans.
Thank you,
Lee Crockett
Director, U.S. Fisheries Campaigns
Pew Environment Group
The text of the letter they are asking supporters to send follows:
I support protecting and restoring ocean life. Thanks to current law and regulations, our nation is on the path to end overfishing and rebuild U.S. ocean fish populations are rebuilt. As your agency evaluates its regulatory framework, please give serious consideration to changes that would place greater emphasis on promoting long-term conservation and ecosystem-based fisheries management, and do not weaken our regulations by creating new delays and exemptions that could allow overfishing.
Your agency recently finished the four-year task of establishing science-based catch limits to end and prevent overfishing on all federally managed ocean fish. Please don't make any changes to your operating definition of overfishing that would jeopardize this progress.
As you consider how to optimize our fisheries' "benefit to the nation" by improving guidance on determining the optimum yield of a fishery, please don't let short-term economic considerations lead to overfishing and long-term harm to fish and fishermen. Instead, improve how you consider the value of healthy ecosystems in setting optimum yield. For example, leaving more forage fish in the ocean would provide food to maintain the health of ecosystems that support valuable recreational and commercial fisheries.
Where multiple fish populations are caught together, please do not jeopardize the depleted ones. Although fishing in this manner could affect healthier populations in the short term, this will help maintain healthy, diverse ecosystems that will benefit all fish populations in the long term.
Migratory fish such as bluefin tuna are some of the most threatened in the oceans. These species deserve protection from overfishing through catch limits, regardless of other nations' policies.
Finally, please make sure that all fish that die from fishing or natural causes are accounted for in management decisions, including those caught accidentally or for scientific purposes.
I ask that you only make changes to federal guidelines that would improve conservation, and continue your important work to ensure the future of fish and fishing in America's oceans.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Read the original message on the Pew website