As you know, we at Oceana have been campaigning against bottom trawling for some time now. That campaign has now reached a critical moment, though, which is why we need your help!

On March 24, we submitted a "petition for rulemaking" to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). (This is a document that informs a Federal agency that we believe it should issue a regulation to cover a specific issue; such petitions are one of the ways that new regulations are created.)

• Read Oceana's Petition for Rulemaking on Deep-Sea Coral and Sponge Habitat (PDF format)
• Read our fact sheet on the petition (PDF format)
• Read NMFS' summary of the petition
• Read the announcement of the proposed rule in the Federal Register

Our petition cited the damage that is being done to sensitive deep-sea coral and sponge habitat by bottom trawling, and asked NMFS to issue a regulation with these provisions:

1. Identify, map, and list all known areas containing high concentrations of deep sea coral and sponge habitat;
2. Designate all known areas containing high concentrations of deep-sea coral and sponge habitat both as "essential fish habitat" (EFH) and "habitat areas of particular concern" (HAPC), and close these areas to bottom trawling;
3. Identify all areas not bottom trawled within the past three years, and close these areas to bottom trawling;
4. Monitor bycatch in areas that are currently being bottom trawled, and, if bycatch totals indicate the presence of deep-sea corals and sponge habitat, close these areas to bottom trawling until they can be mapped to see if there are indeed corals or sponges there, and protected if there are;
5. Start a program to proactively identify new areas containing high concentrations of deep-sea coral and sponge habitat, and and close them to bottom trawling when found;
6. Increase monitoring coverage of areas where deep-sea coral and sponge habitat are likely to be found;
7. Increase enforcement and penalties for violations of areas closed to bottom trawling; and
8. Fund research to identify, protect, and restore damaged deep-sea coral and sponge habitat.

According to the regulatory process, when they receive a petition such as this, a Federal agency such as NMFS must make it public (through publication in the Federal Register) and give the public a chance to comment on its merit. This prevents good ideas from falling into a bureaucratic "black hole".

The comment period for our petition is underway. NMFS is watching to see if there is public interest in support of our proposed rule. If that support exists, they'll be more likely to take it seriously, and to take action to protect deep-sea corals -- and that would be a tremendous victory for the oceans!

You can submit your comments to NMFS by e-mail using this form, or by postal mail by sending them to this address:

Mr. Rolland A. Schmitten
Director, Office of Habitat Conservation
NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service
F/HC
1315 East-West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Comments submitted by mail must be received by August 13, 2004 -- so if you're going to go that route, don't wait until the last minute!