 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Lawsuits seek halt to shark fishingBy GRAHAM BRINK
© St. Petersburg Times, TAMPA -- Two environmental groups filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday asking a judge to halt a decision by the National Marine Fisheries Service to allow a limited amount of shark fishing in U.S. waters. The Ocean Conservancy and the National Audubon Society claim that the fisheries service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Department of Commerce violated laws set up to protect the nation's fisheries. The suit says the governmental agencies based their decision to set a quota of about 690 metric tons on incomplete scientific information. The environmental groups want an injunction to put the fishing on hold and for a judge to order a new environmental impact study. The groups argue that the semiannual quota, announced June 26, would jeopardize the shark population's overall health and make it all the more difficult to replenish an already depleted predator. "We need this to happen fast or the species will be in even more trouble than it already is," said Ansley Samson, an attorney with Earthjustice, the non-profit public interest law firm that represents the environmental groups. Officials with the governmental agencies could not be reached for comment late Thursday. The quota affects blacktip, sandbar, tiger, hammerheads and other large coastal sharks in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Generally, sharks grow slowly, mature late and produce small numbers of young. Experts estimate that some types, such as sandbar sharks, have declined by up to 80 percent since the late 1970s. Overfishing accounts for a large part of the decline, the experts say. "The quota cut is crucial to stem further declines in depleted large coastal shark populations and begin rebuilding periods that will take decades," said Merry Camhi, assistant director of the Living Oceans Program at the National Audubon Society, in a recent news release. Commercial shark fishermen have filed several suits in the past four years challenging the government's shark population estimates as too low. - Contact Graham Brink at (813) 226-3365 or brink@sptimes.com.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times |
