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<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">Bush seeks halt to bottom trawling<BR>Last
Updated: Tuesday, October 3, 2006 | 2:59 PM ET <BR>CBC News <BR>U.S. President
George W. Bush joined a chorus of conservationist voices Tuesday by calling for
a halt to all types of destructive fishing practices, such as bottom trawling,
in international waters.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">Bush sent a memo to the secretaries of state and
commerce, directing them to promote "sustainable" fisheries and to oppose any
fishing practices "that destroy the long-term natural productivity of fish
stocks or habitats, such as seamounts, corals and sponge fields, for short-term
gain."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">Bush also said the U.S. will work with other
nations and international groups to change fishing practices and create new
international fishery regulatory groups, if needed.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">The directive comes one day before the start of
United Nations negotiations in New York over high-seas fishing.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">Conservation groups have been unsuccessfully
pressuring Canada and other countries for years to halt bottom trawling, in
which huge weighted-down nets are dragged across the ocean floor.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">While efficient for catching fish, the method
disrupts habitats and destroys other forms of marine life.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow"><STRONG>In July 2005, Greenpeace called for a
moratorium on bottom trawling in the Northwest Atlantic, but Canada's Department
of Fisheries and Oceans refused.</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">Early this year at a conference in New Zealand,
conservation groups berated delegates from 29 countries, including Canada, for
failing to take action to protect deep-sea creatures and coral.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">Greenpeace and the Halifax-based Ecology Action
Centre said they surveyed more than 800 Canadians last December about bottom
trawling and found overwhelming support for a ban, even if it resulted in some
job loss. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">Sigourney Weaver urges UN to 'do the right
thing'</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">Actress Sigourney Weaver appeared with several
ambassadors and environmental activists at the UN on Tuesday to plead for a
moratorium on bottom trawling.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">"Do the right thing for the seas and for future
generations, both human and aquatic, who will thrive on the bounty of the oceans
if given half a chance," Weaver said.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">"The high seas belong to no single country and
they most certainly do not belong to the owners of these large industrial
fishing corporations," she said. "They belong to all of us and it is time for us
to take them back."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">Weaver, an animal-rights and endangered species
activist, appealed to ambassadors to "stop this uncontrolled clear-cutting of
ancient corals," adding that people shouldn't assume the UN is doing something
to protect deep-sea ecosystems.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">In 2004, the General Assembly passed a
non-binding resolution urging nations to consider temporary bans on bottom
trawling. Japan, Iceland, Spain and other nations whose fishing fleets do much
of the world's bottom trawling opposed a larger moratorium.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">With files from the Associated Press
</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>