Action Timeline

May 2, 2001 – The Center and Turtle Island Restoration Network, represented by Earthjustice, filed suit against the National Marine Fisheries Service over the relocation of a fleet of longline fishing vessels to California. The longline vessels were relocated to avoid a judge’s decision to enforce protections for the leatherback sea turtle.

December 2005 – A federal judge approved a settlement agreement between environmental organizations, sportfishing representatives, and the National Marine Fisheries Service designed to protect the Atlantic white marlin from longline fishing.

June 11, 2007 – Under pressure from scientists and conservation groups, including the Center, the National Marine Fisheries Service denied a proposal to allow drift gillnet vessels to operate in an area off the California and Oregon coasts where such fishing is seasonally banned to protect the critically endangered Pacific leatherback sea turtle.

July 9, 2007 – Responding to concerns raised by the Center, the California Coastal Commission put the brakes on approval of a proposed fishing permit that would have allowed longline fishing within critical foraging habitat for the Pacific leatherback sea turtle. The Center and other groups continued to oppose opening this crucial area to longlining, and permit application was eventually withdrawn.

March 4, 2008 – The Center and Turtle Island Restoration Network formally petitioned the U.S. government to enforce the Marine Mammal Protection Act and impose a ban on imported swordfish until exporting countries provide proof that their fishing practices are at least as protective of marine mammals as those used by U.S. commercial fishers.

March 17, 2009 – The Center, Turtle Island Restoration Network, and Hui Malama i Kohola, represented by Earthjustice, filed suit against the National Marine Fisheries Service for failing to come up with a plan to protect false killer whales from injury and death in the Hawaii-based longline fishery.

April 4, 2009 – Heeding calls by the Center and other ocean conservation groups, the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted not to open the high seas off the West Coast to shallow-set longline fishing. 

April 15, 2009 – The Center, Earthjustice, Defenders of Wildlife, and a coalition of other conservation groups sued the National Marine Fisheries Service to force action quickly to protect threatened and endangered sea turtles from death and injury in the Gulf of Mexico bottom longline fishery.