TBF’s Opposition Expressed before the Atlantic HMS Advisory Panel Meeting
TBF’s staff regularly attends federal and international fisheries management meetings to ensure billfish conservation and recreational fishing interests are addressed. At the September meeting of the NMFS Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Advisory Panel meeting, staff member Peter Chaibongsai and TBF board member Fly Navarro, drove home TBF’s strong opposition to:
- Modifying pelagic longline Closed Zones via Amendment 15, specifically questioning the PRISM science that generated the modification options;
- Implementing extreme vessel speed reduction areas for vessels 35 feet and longer to protect the North Atlantic Right Whales and Rice’s whales. Last week a federal announcement shared that $82 million is available to develop technological alert and avoidance options for whale conservation, yet no exemption for vessels 35 feet to 65 feet was included, and
- Constructing wind farms without more stakeholder input and evidence that wind turbines are not detrimental to marine resources.
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