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MONK SEALS WIN in GPF court case!
Note from President Susie White: I'm very pleased to report that we WON the Hawaiian monk seal case! Judge Samuel King took the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to task, ruling that NMFS violated federal law by failing to protect the critically endangered Hawaiian monk seal from the impacts of the lobster fishery and the portion of the bottomfish fishery operating in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. His ruling found NMFS in violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and he issued an injunction permanently enjoining the lobster fishery until NMFS completes an analysis of the fishery's impacts under the ESA as well as an Environmental Impact Statement. Greenpeace Foundation and our co-plaintiffs, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Turtle Island Restoration Network thank our attorney, Paul Atchitoff of the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund for his fine work on this case and of course, Judge King for his in-depth analysis and sound decisions on behalf of the monk seals. We are awaiting the judge's ruling on an injunction against the bottom fishery. For in-depth detaiils go to: http://www.earthjustice.org/news/pr112000.htm
(previous information on the case, for background)Greenpeace Foundation is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund. The suit is against the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration for failure to protect the Hawaiian monk seal by not closing the Northwestern Hawaiian Island lobster fishery despite observations that pups are starving. The Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Team which consists of the foremost monk seal experts including government scientists, recommended a closure of the fishery yet the Administration did not act. The species has declined over 50% since the 1950s. Joining us in the suit are the Turtle Island Restoration Project and the Center for Biological Diversity.
