Your Action Needed
We, the undersigned, respectfully request that the U.S. Caribbean Fishery Management Council, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, and the National Marine Fisheries Service meet the requirements of the 1996 Sustainable Fisheries Act by implementing measures immediately to protect coral habitat from fish trap damage.
Recent scientific studies by Appeldoorn (2000) and Quandt (1999) prove that over 40% of fish traps set in U.S. coral reef areas off Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands land directly on coral. Based on government estimates of 20,000 fish traps in use in the U.S. Caribbean, that works out to more than EIGHT THOUSAND traps smashing up coral off Puerto Rico and the USVI every day.
Those 2 studies taken together gauged damage to coral by fish traps at an average of 40 square centimeters PER WEEK for every trap set on coral (Appeldoorn 70 cm per trap and Quandt 10 cm pertrap). Multiplied by 8,000 traps per week landing on coral, the result is 160,000 square meters (40 acres) of coral damaged by "complete removal of coral tissue" each and every year! According to federal law, that needs to stop.
Therefore, we respectfully request that the U.S. Caribbean Fishery Management Council, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (which also currently allows the use of up to 20,000 fish traps over Gulf of Mexico coral hardbottoms) put regulations into place immediately to eliminate harmful impacts of fish traps to coral habitat.
These regulations should include:
Thank you for your consideration.
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