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Animal activists say the Senate package bill condemns the extinction of right whales.usa news

Animal conservationists should include a provision in year-end funding bills to allow Maine’s lobster industry to continue using endangered northern right whales in fishing gear that is often lethal. denounces Democrats in the U.S. Senate. At least he is in 2028.

An unprecedented right whale policy covenant was inserted by Senators Chuck Schumer of New York and Senator Patrick Leahy of Maine, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. Omnibus funding budget A report released on Tuesday has virtually driven the right whale to extinction.

Most estimates put the species at 340 individuals, of which 70 are breeding females, and the population has declined significantly over the past decade. Environmentalists argue that a common cause of right whale deaths is entanglement in ropes and buoys used to mark lobster traps.

Right whales will almost certainly go extinct if ropeless trap enforcement is delayed, the nonprofit Center for Biodiversity said in a statement.

“Schumer and Leahy are extermination Democrats who ruthlessly put special interests ahead of our country’s beautiful natural heritage,” said Brett Hartle, the Center’s director of government affairs.

“Right whales have migrated along New York’s coastline for thousands of years, but … Schumer’s actions will make this generation the last to witness these amazing creatures. What a legacy to your grandchildren.” It’s a terrible legacy.”

Center spokesperson Patrick Sullivan said in an interview with The Guardian that the decision to legally overturn an earlier federal court ruling that delayed implementation of changes to lobster fishing laws by two years will see Democrats bow to the industry. said that it means that

“Apparently, even Senator Schumer and others could be pressured to take this really appalling approach to the issue,” Sullivan said. “We have always said that the lobster industry needs help as it transitions to a whale-friendly approach, and the purpose of this bill is to ensure that the extinction of right whales must not be at the expense of it.”

Last month, Joe Biden expressed his support for Maine’s billion-dollar lobster industry when the president served shellfish to 200 guests at French President Emmanuel Macron’s White House state dinner.

The Right Whale Act, which was attached to the year-end package bill, requires additional whale protection measures “using existing innovative gear technology where appropriate” and a report on the situation of right whales by December 4, 2028. I am required to submit a paper every year.

According to the Center for Biodiversity, despite additional funding for the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it is “far below what is needed to address the threat of extinction.”

According to Sullivan, the next few years will be very important for right whales. “If you look at the high levels of mortality and low levels of reproduction, it doesn’t take long for the species to reach a point where recovery becomes very difficult, if not impossible,” he said. rice field.

Studies have shown that climate change-induced warming in the Gulf of Maine has reduced copepods, a food source for whales. That may have contributed to the decline in the number of breeding female whales.

According to one survey, 39 calves were born in 2009. There are no right whale calves born in 2018.

Over the past decade, the population is estimated to have declined by about 500 to about 26%. The cause of death was attributed to a ship collision in the Gulf of Lawrence, and more often than not, to being caught in lobster fishing gear.

“There are very few whales and there are many tools in the water.” we are all whalers Author Michael Moore – Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution – told The Guardian earlier this month. “We have not been able to avoid deadly entanglements and entanglements that are detrimental to their health. it won’t.”

“They are much more susceptible than other whales,” he said. Leviathan author Philip Hoare “And it’s pretty sad and kind of insane that this is happening on the shores of the richest democracy on earth.”

With politicians resisting swift implementation of measures to save whales, it may be up to consumers to take action. The Whole Foods chain removed lobster from its stores in November after the addition of California-based Seafood Watch. US and Canadian Lobster Fisheries This means that they are considered to pose a high risk of harm to the environment.

Earlier this month, a suspension of the certification awarded to Maine’s lobster industry by the nonprofit Marine Stewardship Council took effect. Council called Whale Tangle “A serious and tragic situation.”

Sullivan, a spokesperson for the Center for Biodiversity, said right whale species could still be saved by immediate action to protect them from entanglement.

“The window is really small and this law is closing it,” he said. “It puts right whales on a very bad trajectory and we are very concerned about where it goes from here.”

“A four-year delay not only could save whales, but is devastating because of the inevitable delay between policy agreement and implementation, resulting in even more avoidable losses.” said the director of animal law education at George University. University of Washington, Kathy Hessler.

“It is long past doing what we can to stop harming whales, other aquatic animals and ecosystems. There are unused options to protect whales and allow the industry to continue.” There is no excuse not to try them.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/21/senate-omnibus-bill-condemns-right-whale-to-extinction Animal activists say the Senate package bill condemns the extinction of right whales.usa news

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