BOSTON — Federal fisheries regulators are restricting fishing in some waters near shore this fall to protect harbor porpoises in the Gulf of Maine.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries said Thursday that gillnet fishing will be banned in October and November in coastal waters from Maine to Cape Ann, Mass. Last year, 36 groundfishing boats made 721 fishing trips in the closure area during that two-month period. Other fishing boats are also used the area.
Spokeswoman Maggie Mooney-Seus says the Marine Mammal Protection Act requires rules to protect porpoises when mortality rates become too high. She says 792 porpoises died in nets in 2009 from Maine to the Middle Atlantic.
She says fishing boat operators can ease the economic impact by fishing elsewhere, fishing at other times of the year, or leasing their allocations to others.
Last year, 36 groundfishing boats made 721 fishing trips in the closure area during that two-month period. She says 792 porpoises died in nets in 2009 from Maine to the Middle Atlantic. I would like to know how many government workers it takes to count these things.
The other stupid thing about the figure provided on dead porpoises is that it gives no dissemination or clear data on whether the porpoises were already dead when caught up in the nets, in which case the deaths were not a result of the fishermen at all. But details like this don’t fit the enviro-nazi religious edict, and are left out of such reports. I would also be willing to bet that the figure (whatever it truly is) includes unborn fetusus which were near to term in the overall porpoise count. Ironic that such a thing would be counted when it suits the needs of liberals, but when it comes to humans, the liberals don’t like counting fetuses as people worth counting.
Wow dude. Are you honestly suggesting that government biologists are counting porpoise fetuses as part of a conspiracy to…do what, exactly? And why on earth would you bring abortion into your anti-environment rant?
Probably fewer workers then it takes to estimate a deer herd. Or a moose herd. And you know what else? They’re porpoises caught in nets, not swimming around. You see, when you cast a net, you bring it back, and see what’s inside. You can even count the different animals that you caught! Why, you could send one biologist out, on different boats every day, and maybe even come up with an average number of porpoises caught per trip! You know, so we can really see what impact our activities are having.
Or maybe you’re just against the idea of monitoring our environment and the ecosystems we depend upon for life. Wasteful liberal ideas, to your thinking, I’m sure.
Shutting off the Maine coast to fishing…Thank you Cass Sunstian are wonderful regulation czar..One nudge here a shove there..Soon we the people will be shoved into a corner…They will do what they want walk completely over us if we let them..We must vote them out..
I hope they reimburse all the money lost because of this on a yearly basis (doubtful!). Its great! The working class continues to get screwed while the poor keep getting “richer”! WOW!! What’s that saying Obama says? Spread the wealth around? Thats one thing he hasn’t let us down on!
Meanwhile the Canadians will continue to kill porpoises,the only result will be more American jobs lost. Even though I feel trying to save the porpoises is a good idea however,the Canadians will just end up killing twice as many. The same thing happened with the sardine fishing laws ;Canadians just doubled their catch, as they laughed all the way to the bank after the U.S. government drove American fisherman and the last sardine factory out of business.