California Coastal Commission Votes to Protect Sea Turtles!

I would like to share the great news that on Friday August 10th, the
California Coastal Commission unanimously voted to reject a proposal to
allow swordfish longline fishing along the California and Oregon coast in a
critical habitat area for the highly endangered Pacific leatherback sea
turtle.

The Commission ruled the fishery permit was inconsistent with the California
Coastal Act, due to expected impacts on sea turtles, marine mammals,
seabirds and the many other marine species known to be hooked and entangled
by longline fishing. This decision prevents the National Marine Fisheries
Service from issuing this longline permit for now.

Thank you to all who wrote letters, made calls and attended the meeting.
This was truly a great moment for the protection of sea turtles along the
U.S. west coast and could not have been achieved without your continued
support!

Click the link below for news coverage on this decision:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/11/BAGO0RH4GC.DTL

Sincerely,

Karen Steele
Campaign Coordinator
http://www.seaturtles.org

To make a tax deductible donation to support our work to protect endangered
sea turtles and marine diversity sea turtles and marine biodiversity, please
go to http://www.seaturtles.org/donate/