Tag Archives: Environmental activists

Maine Republicans want to end tax breaks over lobster bans

Legislation expected to be filed by the GOP minority for consideration in the next session would prevent Whole Foods, or other groups that ban lobster sales from getting tax breaks available to Maine businesses. Last week, Whole Foods announced plans to stop selling lobster caught in the Gulf of Maine at hundreds of its retail stores across the country. During the Tuesday briefing on the proposal, Republican lawmakers framed the issue as one of survival for the state’s storied lobster industry, which they say is struggling amid labor costs, foreign competition and costly federal regulations aimed at preventing whales from becoming entangled in fishing gear. >click to read< 14:54

Ongoing Legal Battles Put Maine Lobster Fishery in Crosshairs, Results in Suspension of Marine Stewardship Council Certification

An ongoing legal dispute between environmental activists and the federal government has led Maine Lobster’s Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) fishing certification to be suspended. An independent auditor conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the fishery earlier this year and determined that Maine Lobster is a well-managed and sustainable fishery according to MSC fisheries standards. Shortly after this assessment, a court ruled that regulations issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service to govern the management of North American right whales (NARW) do not meet the requirements of federal laws to protect endangered species. As a result of this court ruling, while the industry has complied with all regulations in good faith, the independent auditor suspended the MSC certificate of the fishery. >click to read< 18:02

9th Circuit Gives Enviros New Way to Shut Down Hawaii Fishing Fleet

Federal agencies must rethink permitting a swordfish-catching operation to increase the use of a fishing method that can kill endangered sea turtles and seabirds, according to a decision by a federal appeals court on Tuesday. Two of the three judges on a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel agreed with the Turtle Island Restoration Network and other environmental organizations that argued the National Marine Fisheries Service acted improperly when it increased the amount of sea turtles that could be killed incidentally in the waters off of Hawaii as part of a fishing method called longlining. Specifically, the majority said the fisheries service failed to properly integrate a climate-based model that showed significant declines in the population of the loggerheads sea turtle. click here to read the story 09:06 

N.J.’s ocean canyons: Will these treasures be preserved like national parks?

Because about 75 to 100 miles off the coast of New Jersey — where the continental shelf divides shallow coastal waters and the deep sea — a tale of two canyons is in play involving these geological hot spots. The Baltimore Canyon and the Hudson Canyon, both considered national treasures, are among about 70 such areas along the Mid-Atlantic coastline that are prized by fishermen for their rich species diversity and abundance of marine life. “The canyons are where the fish are … they’re important resources that support our fisheries,” said Michael Luisi, chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council, a Dover, Del.-based fishery management group representing the interests of commercial fishermen from New York to North Carolina. “By blocking this designation, the fishing industry is being selfish and only hurting themselves in the long run,” said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. Read the story here 13:30

‘Big Green’ and environmental activists 2016’s biggest losers (Commentary)

The day after the presidential elections, Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, glumly called the Donald Trump victory “devastating for our climate and our future.” Well, yes, if you’re a climate-change alarmist who hates fossil fuels, you’re in for a bad four and maybe eight years. Greenpeace Executive Director Annie Leonard was even more apocalyptic, saying: “I never thought I’d have to write this. The election of Donald Trump as president has been devastating. … There’s no question, Donald Trump’s climate denial is staggering. He wants to shut down the EPA, ‘cancel’ the Paris Climate Agreement, stop funding clean energy research, and ‘drill, baby, drill.'” Ah, but if this is so crazy, why did he win? The short answer is that Americans went to the polls and rejected environmental extremism, among other things. The biggest loser on election night was America’s Big Green movement, dedicated to the anti-prosperity proposition that to save the planet from extinction we have de-industrialize the U.S. and throw millions and millions of our fellow citizens out of their jobs. Read the rest here 13:20:30

Enviros Stressed! How We Can Defend the Ocean now that Trump Will Be at the Helm of the Ship of State

helvarg-pic-militant-kayakersLike a rogue wave the Election Day victory of Donald Trump for President has left about half the nation stunned and the other half giddy. Among those most worried – environmentalists who are girding for a long series of battles around climate and expecting attacks on keystone agencies, executive orders and legislation including pollution emission standards, the Clean Water Act and the EPA. As Ocean conservationists we face huge challenges including the prospect of the National Ocean Policy being deep sixed. President Obama launched this in 2010 with the intent to encourage closer collaboration between federal agencies and to coordinate ocean uses at the regional level. What former Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen called, “putting urban planning into the water column.” Still, some Republicans consider it the Obamacare of the Ocean so there’s a strong likelihood it will be scuttled. We can also expect continued Senate inaction on ratifying the Law of the Seas Convention, the UN treaty by which most of the world’s nations agree on issues relating to navigation, scientific exploration and territorial claims on and below the ocean.  Hillary Clinton had pledged to see it passed if she became President but some Senate Republicans see it as a UN power grab. Because of this, we expect the U.S. to remain a non-signatory power. Read the rest here 16:54

Ecosexuals: For Those Times When Hugging a Tree is Not Enough

bathhouse-640x480Ecosexuals Believe Having Sex with the Earth Could Save ItIf you happen to find yourself in Sydney this week, you have the unique opportunity to have sex with the earth. You just need to stop by the “ecosexual bathhouse,” which is currently part of the Syndey LiveWorks Festival of experimental art. The bathhouse is an interactive installation created by artists Loren Kronemyer and Ian Sinclair of Pony Express, who described the work to me as a “no-holds-barred extravaganza meant to dissolve the barriers between species as we descend into oblivion” as the result of our global environmental crisis. But they also see their piece as a part of a much larger ecosexual movement, which they say is gathering momentum around the world. Ecosexuality is a term with wide-ranging definitions, which vary depending on who you ask. Amanda Morgan, a faculty member at the UNLV School of Community Health Sciences who is involved in the ecosexual movement, says that ecosexuality could be measured in a sense not unlike the Kinsey Scale: On one end, it encompasses people who try to use sustainable sex products, or who enjoy skinny dipping and naked hiking. On the other are “people who roll around in the dirt having an orgasm covered in potting soil,” she said. “There are people who f ck trees, or masturbate under a waterfall.” Read the post, leave a comment here 10:29

Whale advocates seek commercial fishing gear ban

Environmental activists want voters to ban commercial fishing nets and gear in state waters to prevent entanglements of whales and turtles, but fishermen and even some animal welfare groups say the move would be ineffective while devastating the struggling fishing industry. The effort is being led by Max Strahan, an activist known in environmental circles as the “Prince of Whales” for sometimes radical campaigns to protect the North Atlantic right whale, one of the planet’s most endangered species. Strahan’s proposal, which cleared an initial hurdle two weeks ago when it was certified,,, Read the rest here 08:3o

Anyone following the DFO library closure “War on Science”? The environs have been having a field day.

863a4ac9dc_64635696_o2Harper rapped for wrong reasons –VICTORIA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s latest visit to B.C. was portrayed as these things are today: besieged by protesters, hiding from an ever-vigilant media, cynically campaigning for the 2015 federal election. TV couldn’t get enough of the two “environmental activists” who dressed as waiters to slip onstage at a business breakfast in Vancouver. They’re not environmentalists, just all-purpose protesters using the flavour of the month. They are associated with a group calling itself “No One Is Illegal,” a collection of anarchist kooks that wants to do away with national borders, and of course capitalism. Read more@kootnayadvertiser  14:10

Enviros putting big money, strong efforts behind Markey

gdt iconHe is, in fact, the only representative with coastal interests in the Massachusetts delegation to oppose creating more flexibility and other changes in the Magnuson-Stevens Act — changes industry leadser say are essential as the groundfishing industry faces a 78 percent in cod landings this year — and he has endorsed President Obama’s so-called “ocean zoning” proposal, which is strongly backed by the “greens” but would almost certainly bring new fishing area closures. continued