Sound Environment
NOAA’s New Northeast Chief’s first official act – Undermining the Marine Mammal Protection Act?
Against the recommendations of the federally appointed Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Team, John Harbor porpoise, a by-catch of commercial fishing, are often caught and suffocate in gillnets. © A. Reckendorf/WDC Bullard, the newly named Northeast Fisheries Administrator, recently announced that he is circumventing the process set out by the Marine Mammal Protection Act to reduce by-catch (incidental death) of harbor porpoise. Prior to Bullard’s August appointment, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued a letter to fishermen in…