policy letter
support for NMFS regulations to protect northern right whales
The American Cetacean Society (ACS), the oldest whale and dolphin conservation organization in the United States, fully supports the NMFS proposed amended regulations that implement the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP) to provide further protection for large whales, with an emphasis on protective measures to benefit North Atlantic right whales.
The ACS policy that supports the proposed amended regulations reads:
ACS supports legal actions to protect northern right whales, including both North Pacific and North Atlantic right whales. This would include, but not be limited to, actions that would minimize the risk of death or injury to right whales from fishing gear entanglements, collisions with vessels, and other human-induced causes. These actions must be consistent with existing ACS policy and at the discretion of the ACS National Board.
Given that the four biological opinions on the multispecies, spiny dogfish, and monkfish fishery management plans and the lobster Federal regulations issued by NMFS on June 14, 2001, conclude that all four of these fisheries jeopardized the continued existence of the North Atlantic right whale, ACS is in complete agreement that the regulations require the proposed amendments.
Respectfully,
Bonnie Gretz
National Conservation Chair
|
