Coalition of Fishing and Community Groups Fight to Preserve Scientific, Stakeholder-Driven Fisheries Management

In response to a proposal circulating on theWest Coast that seeks National Monument status for nine seamounts, banks and ridges off the California coast, a diverse coalition of fishing and community groups including PCFFA, California Wetfish Producers Association, and Western Fishboat Owners Association have written a joint letter to the Obama administration requesting that fisheries management be left out of the proposal. Fishing in the proposed monument areas is already regulated by the Pacific FisheryManagementCouncil (PFMC) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) under authority of the Magnuson Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management (MSA).

This fishing industry expressed its concern that area closures above the seamounts will not achieve the conservation goals outlined in the proposal. The proposal seeks protection of deep sea coral and sponge species that reside on the seafloor at incredible depth, in some cases thousands of feet.Most fishing activity in the proposed monuments does not come into contact with the seafloor, and PFMC has already banned bottom trawl fishing in the areas where damage could be done. What little fishing does contact bottom in these areas is mainly lightweight lobster trapping, a fishery that is certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council.

Banning water column fishing such as albacore trolling or drift gillnetting in this fashion will have no impact on seafloor resources, and completely excludes the individuals affected by the ban from formal public comment or recourse. Unlike the Antiquities Act, under which a national monument would be designated, the MSA regulates fishing through a transparent public process that is driven by science and affords robust public participation. Fishing industry members view a blanket ban on commercial fishing as unnecessarily punitive and likely a disguise for ulterior motives that have nothing to do with deep sea corals.