http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/arctic_afmp?rk=s7NqNdKaRue5E

Help ensure Arctic fisheries protections!

Together we achieved a huge victory for the Arctic in February when the North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted unanimously to temporarily close the Arctic to industrial fishing.

The Secretary of Commerce is deciding right now whether or not to approve the Arctic Fishery Management Plan. That’s where you come in.

Please let the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Secretary of Commerce know you support ecosystem-based management of fisheries in the Arctic.

With all the stresses from climate change, ocean acidification, and industrialization, it is important the Department of Commerce take swift action with a precautionary, science-based approach to protect the fragile Arctic ecosystem.

Please send your message to the National Marine Fisheries Service asking them to protect the Arctic. You are welcome and encouraged to add your own thoughts to the example outlined below. 

Thanks for your continued support.

Sincerely,

 

Josh Reichert
Managing Director, Pew Environment Group

 

 Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
Ms. Sue Salveson

Below is the sample letter:

 

Subject: Adopt the Arctic Fishery Management Plan

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

I urge Commerce Secretary Locke to adopt the Arctic Fishery Management Plan and implement regulations to close U.S. Arctic waters to industrial fishing.

The Arctic is already facing incredible stresses from climate change. Arctic animals like the polar bear, walrus and bowhead whale are struggling to adapt to the rapid changes already happening in the Arctic. Adding industrial fishing pressures would threaten the fragile Arctic food web that these and other animals rely on for survival.

Thousands of people have called the Arctic home for millennia, living a subsistence way of life in harmony with the natural world. Arctic peoples rely on healthy marine ecosystems for their very existence. We cannot afford to add industrial fishing pressures that would further threaten the health of these ecosystems.

Given the threats to the Arctic, we need a science-based precautionary approach to any expansion of industrial activities into the Arctic Ocean, s uch as industrial fishing. I commend you for taking a responsible course to protect the health of the Arctic and set an important precedent for other nations and other industries like oil and gas to follow.

Please adopt the Arctic Fishery Management Plan and close the Arctic Management Area to industrial fishing.

Sincerely,

 http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/arctic_afmp?rk=s7NqNdKaRue5E