Tag Archives: North Coast Senator Mike McGuire
Whale Protection Bill SB 1287 – North Coast Senator speaks on progress
North Coast Senator Mike McGuire’s Whale Protection Bill has passed, and now involved agencies are working on implementation. Senate Bill 1287 aims to help stop whale entanglements by crab and fishing gear up and down the California coast. Governor Brown signed it into law in September of last year, which saw a record breaking number of entangled whales, with 66 off the California coast alone. The senator hopes the bill will be fully implemented by mid-2018. It will require crabbers to be responsible for collecting their gear, or else they could face losing their commercial fishing license. click here to read the story 11:25
Whale Protection & Crab Gear Retrieval Act, SB 1287, heads to Governor Browns desk
North Coast Senator Mike McGuire’s legislation that will help permanently protect whales by removing lost and abandoned crab fishing gear from the ocean has been approved by both houses of the State Legislature and will now head to Governor Brown’s desk. SB 1287 received widespread and overwhelming support in the Senate and was approved Thursday by a vote of the full State Assembly. “We need this legislation, now more than ever. Whale entanglement numbers are skyrocketing off the California coast and we’re bringing together crabbers and environmentalists to get this common sense bill signed into law,” Senator Mike McGuire said. The Whale Protection & Crab Gear Retrieval Act, which was proactively initiated by the thousands of hard working men and women who make up California’s mighty crab fleet, would create a regulatory program with incentives for fishermen to retrieve Dungeness crab fishing gear that would otherwise be lost in the ocean. It’s estimated that thousands of pots are lost every season and these pieces of gear could have hundreds of feet of rope attached to a locater buoy. Read the rest here 16:04
