Responding to an effort in California to switch gill-netters to an “experimental” longline fishery, Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) recently began drafting a bill to ban the use of longlines in the waters off California. The proposed legislation outlaws the use of longlines in West Coast waters off California, Washington and Oregon, where regulations are already in place to restrict the use of the gear. The bill continues to foster the use of sustainable commercial gears, such as harpooning and rod and reel.
“At a time when the Congress is seeking a way to remove the threat of longlines in the Atlantic EEZ, there is no reason to allow a new fishery off the West Coast,” says Jim Donofrio of the Recreational Fisheries Alliance.
