"Council Continues Gulf Longline Fishing Ban"

"The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council yesterday left in place a moratorium on longline fishing to aid a federally protected sea turtle species.

The National Marine Fisheries Service earlier this year imposed an emergency moratorium on longline fishing in eastern gulf waters shallower than 50 fathoms (300 feet). The council recommended the moratorium after a report indicated that the number of threatened loggerhead turtles being caught and killed by the lines was a violation of the Endangered Species Act."

Patrick Reis reports for Greenwire in the New York Times June 19, 2009.