A West Marin environmental group is sponsoring legislation to end the use of drift gill nets off the state’s coast, saying they inadvertently scoop up and kill other species, including federally-endangered leatherback sea turtles.
Marin’s Turtle Island Restoration Network has sponsored Senate Bill 1114, which would phase out the use of gill nets in favor of another method that better targets what the gill nets seek: swordfish. The change would prevent turtles, whales, dolphins, sharks and pinnipeds from being taken, the group says. The bill was approved by the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water earlier this month, the first stop during its journey in the Legislature. An appropriations committee is expected to take it up next month before more votes.
“Despite the fact that Pacific leatherback sea turtles are the largest sea turtles on the planet, they are no match for the driftnet fishery,” said Peter Fugazzotto, Turtle Island’s program manager. “This deadly fishery has been operating at too high of a cost to marine wildlife.”
But those who oppose the bill say it is off target. The fishery is already monitored by federal authorities and that swordfish are caught far out to sea, beyond the state’s boundary and authority, they argue.
“The drift gill net fishery is under a federal management program already and is closely watched,” said Kathy Fosmark, co-chairwoman of the Alliance of Communities for Sustainable Fisheries. “The replacement system they are talking about has not been proven. The legislation has problems.”
