Save the leatherback turtle from gillnets!

In the quest to put shark and swordfish on the dinner menu, drift gillnets might be allowed to sweep a previously off limits area of the Pacific--home to the critically endangered Pacific leatherback sea turtle. Drift gillnets are an ecological nightmare that kill many, many fish and marine mammals that are not the intended catch. 

And it's not just leatherbacks that perish in gillnets. Whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, blue sharks and striped marlin are also indiscriminately trapped and drowned or mangled. Despite the horrific bycatch associated with gillnets, the Pacific Fishery Management Council is now considering the possibility of gillnet fishing in a designated leatherback conservation area. 

"If we  want to catch more swordfish, we need to pursue cleaner fishing methods," says Geoff Shester who directs the Oceana California Program. Tell the Pacific Fishery Management Council not to expand the territory of drift gillnets and especially not in waters reserved for the leatherback!