Thursday March 16, 2023
Anchorage Daily News —
A U.S. judge this week ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service violated the law when it failed to develop a plan to prevent the harming of humpback whales by West Coast commercial fishermen catching sablefish.
The Endangered Species Act requires the fisheries service to develop a plan to reduce the number of whales accidentally injured or killed by the fishery, but the agency neither crafted such a plan nor started to create one, the ruling said.
About 150 commercial fishing vessels use traps to capture sablefish in waters off California, Oregon and Washington.
The fish dwell on muddy ocean floors deeper than 650 feet. To target the fish, fishermen place multiple heavy pots on the seafloor and link them together with heavy-duty fishing line.