This needs to be stopped!

[Logan9581]

Saw this on another forum but thought everyone here would like to see too. Here are some pictures of longlining off of El Salvador. http://community.webshots.com/album/289960053MxqAdc

Here is a report from a captain in Ecuador as well:
"Hello all
I have just returned from most distubing site of total billfish devastation, I have ever witnessed,on the conservative side I would say, this morning dec 11 I saw over 1000 dead,billfish,marlins,sailfish and 1 pup swordfish piled up on beach in Manta,ecuador,this goes on day after day, only break is on saturday nite when they do not fish on Sunday,how long can this go on.big blues upwards of 600 lbs heads hacked off with machetes, not pretty in fact damn disturbing for me,when crew of mine go thru great pains to release unharmed all the billfish we catch. This is all happening north of Manta,I do not no anyone in Billfish foundation anymore, I hope someone there reads this, What can be done I do not know, but it is a tragedy that has to be either stopped or managed. I do not get involved with to much,but this has got to STOP or there will be NO billfish in the far east Pacific. Only one swordfish and a pup at that,that is telling me something ,they have already wiped them out. Was not politely told to leave with camera, I have enough pictures of this mess, in fact I refuse to go back and look at that ##### anymore. Cannot wait to get back to Jurassic park ,where this type of thing is not tolerated, in fact when a bust is made in jurassic park, it is boats out of Manta that are the culprits. Happy holidays to all"

Just thought the more exposure we can get out about what is still going on all over the world, the better.

[Sterling]

Thanks for posting this Logan, it's a sad reminder of the urgent problems facing billfish, turtles, sportfishing and more. What really kills me is that we have a government agency that spends a lot of money, only to support a lot of the problems out there. Worse yet, anytime they want to improve a fishery they go after recreational fishing...which is rarely the issue to begin with. Right now they say whites have fallen to 13% of where they should be under their watch. The only action they came up with is to close white marlin recreational fishing, which takes under 100 whites a year. They said that closing the Rec fishery would make no measurable difference and yet presented no other plan to stop (or even slow) international slaughter, or commercial by catch. They did suggest some training for longliners which is about the lamest idea I've heard and it certainly wont help this dead billfish off a longline. There are plenty more pics on that website.

I don't know if the NMFS is afraid to address the real issues, if they are incompetent or intentionally selling out, but it's got to stop. We are one of the few countries in the world that can lead the changes necessary yet under our watch, many fish populations are being slaughtered.

I've heard talk of Boycotting the NMFS and at this point it sounds like a good idea. I certainly don't see why we should fund an organization that does more harm than good.

AARRRRRGGGHHHHHHH...just ticks me off