Got this in an email :) Let me know if you want to help them!! Tomorrow, October 8, is Octopus Awareness Day!!!!! Octopuses are some of the smartest, most fascinating creatures in the sea — my personal favorites! And octopuses really need your awareness, especially in the Bering Sea, where they live alongside squid, starfish, and crabs in vast underwater canyons. These homes are being torn apart by fishing gear. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has the power to protect these wondrous places from further destruction — and they need to hear your voice. Fishing is virtually unregulated in the Bering Sea’s Green Belt, home to the largest underwater canyons in the world, and so full of life that whales, seabirds and other animals travel for hundreds of miles to dine on abundant fish — fish that also attract huge industrial fishing fleets. Heavy trawls crush coral and bulldoze the canyon slope, decimating the rare habitat where octopuses and other creatures shelter and feed. Stop the devastation. Urge the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to protect the Bering Sea’s treasures — and octopuses’ homes — before industrial fishing destroys them. Industrial fishing removes massive quantities of fish from the Bering Sea, leaving whales and endangered Steller sea lions with less to eat, and threatening the livelihoods of indigenous populations that have fished and hunted here for centuries. Protecting these rare canyons would be a win-win for sustainable seafood — they include spawning grounds and nurseries for commercial fish, but the amount of fish actually caught there is a very tiny percentage of the fishing industry’s annual catch. This is exactly the kind of special place where we need ocean sanctuaries, as insurance policies for the future. Youre not the type to quietly stand by, and neither are we. Join the tens of thousands who have already spoken up, and tell the fishery managers that the world is watching. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council meets in December, and I’ll be there to urge them to set up protections for the Bering Sea Green Belt. And I’m going to bring all of your names with me. Thank you, Jackie Dragon Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner P.S. We still know so little about these massive canyons — our submarine crew even discovered a brand-new species of sponge when we visited! We can’t afford to lose this amazing place before we even know what’s there.
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 12:50:52 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015