Group petitions to protect coral, restrict trawling

By Ian Ith
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Frustrated with what it calls regional foot-dragging to protect newly discovered deep-sea coral gardens, an international environmental group yesterday demanded strict federal rules to limit bottom fishing in wide areas of the oceans, including off Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

The group Oceana has requested that the Commerce Department bar bottom-trawling fisheries not only in all areas where the ancient coral and sea sponges have been found in abundance, but areas where they might possibly be discovered in the future.

Huge areas off the Alaskan coast and the Aleutian Islands could be among those cited for restrictions, as well as the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary of Washington and areas off the Oregon and California coasts.

But the bottom-fishing industry immediately criticized Oceana, based in Washington, D.C., of end-running existing regional negotiations and accused the group of inflating the abundance of the coral beds and the damage the industry inflicts on the undersea old-growth.

"It's very frustrating, because the fishing industry has been working hard on these issues for a lot of years, and what Oceana has done is completely circumvent the public process," said Ed Luttrell of the Groundfish Forum, a Seattle trade group representing several local trawling companies.

Oceana's move is the latest escalation of a fast-erupting environmental debate. The coral gardens, discovered in Alaska only recently, have become a rallying symbol in the fight over ocean-fishing practices, particularly bottom trawling, the dragging of weighted nets across the ocean floor to scoop up rockfish, cod and anything else in the way.

Scientists say the cold-water reefs are vital undersea habitats that are perhaps thousands of years in the making, akin to old-growth forests on shore. The scientists contend that trawling is essentially clear-cutting an irreplaceable resource.

"We don't want to make the same mistakes with our ocean environment that we have with our terrestrial environment," said Dave Allison, director of the campaign against bottom trawling for Oceana.

Oceana's petition to Commerce Secretary Donald Evans demands that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) search for areas with high concentrations of coral and designate them as "habitat areas of particular concern," which would close them to bottom trawling.

But the proposal, in an effort to protect coral gardens that have not been found, recommends that the government also close any parts of the oceans that haven't been dragged with bottom trawlers in the past three years, which potentially amounts to an expansive part of the oceans.
 
An NMFS spokeswoman yesterday acknowledged that it had received the petition, but said it was too early to say how it would be reviewed. Typically, the agency first reviews such petitions to determine whether a broader study is merited.

Meantime, Oceana is also trying to gain support in Congress to legislate coral-protection plans and won't rule out more lawsuits. It contends the coral should be protected under a 1996 law that requires protection of essential sea habitat.

Oceana already has been working with regional advisory groups in several parts of the country, including Alaska, after it won a lawsuit there to force stricter provisions to protect the coral beds.

Luttrell contends that Oceana's latest petition shows that it won't settle for compromise, and that it won't accept regional efforts to find ways to protect the coral beds without harming the fishing industry.

Contrary to Oceana's portrayals, Luttrell said, the industry is also interested in conservation and environmental protection.

In Alaska, Luttrell said, "we only impact 1 percent of the fishable bottom, outside areas that are already closed. We've been fishing that area for decades and decades, and the Northern Pacific has the healthiest fishery in the world. But we're the easy target."

But Oceana's Allison said the regional councils have so far been unwilling to do anything but promote the status quo by imposing impossible requirements for setting aside areas from trawling.

"The fish-management agencies are not designed to protect the ocean, they are designed to promote the fisheries," Allison said.

"And time is running out for the corals."

Ian Ith: 206-464-2109 or iith@seattletimes.com

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