Last Chance for Letters to Protect Pacific Coast Leatherba..

Last Chance for Letters to Protect Pacific Coast Leatherback
Sea Turtles

Dear Leatherback Supporters,

Thank you to all who have shown your support for the
leatherback sea turtle. Over 4000 letters have been received
by the National Marine Fisheries Service opposing plans to
allow destructive drift gillnet fishing into a Leatherback
Conservation Area along the California/Oregon coast!

If you have not yet sent a letter please help us reach our
goal of 5000 letters by clicking below to send a letter today.
Final deadline is Thursday, August 10th!
http://www.seaturtles.org/actionalertdetails.cfm?actionAlertID=115

The fishing permit the National Marine Fisheries Service is
poised to issue will eliminate a highly effective LEATHERBACK
CONSERVATION AREA created to reduce the destruction
caused by Drift Gillnet Fishing along the California and Oregon
coast. The same fishing method has been banned on the high
seas by the United Nations. Now the government wants to
expand it off our coast.

The proposal would authorize the killing of the critically
endangered leatherback sea turtle, humpback whale, fin whale
and sperm whale. Drift Gillnet fishing has been closed since
2001 in over 180,000 square miles along the West Coast for
a four-month period each year to protect the leatherbacks.
This important Leatherback Conservation Area has resulted in
NO leatherback deaths since it was put in place. It is unacceptable
that the government plans to rollback these protections.

Other Actions You Can Take

1. For MORE impact send your own comment letters to
the National Marine Fisheries Service. All letters must be
identified by including "I.D. 070506D" in the subject line
and addressed to:

Rodney R. McInnis
Regional Administrator
Southwest Region NMFS
501 West Ocean Blvd., Suite 4200
Long Beach, CA 90802-4213
Fax: (562) 980 4047
Email: 0648-AU25.SWR.DeleteThis@noaa.gov

....

For further information please visit
http://www.seaturtles.org/pacific

Karen Steele
Campaign Coordinator
Sea Turtle Restoration Project
www.seaturtles.org/pacific