• Sustainability

New WWF Report Shines a Light on Getting Rid of Ghost Gear

• #30x30
• Conservation Law Foundation
• fishing gear
• ghost gear
• IFAW
• North Atlantic Right Whale
• plastic pollution
• vaquita
• whale
• World Wildlife Fund

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) issued a new report yesterday illuminating the devastating impact of derelict or abandoned fishing gear in the ocean (aka “ghost gear”), and the numbers are terrifying — between 500,000 and 1,000,000 tons of ghost gear wind up in the ocean EACH YEAR!

Why This Matters:  While fishing gear that is in use is a threat to marine life like whales, abandoned fishing gear is just a tragedy waiting to happen and completely needless — eliminating it is totally within our control.

• People

Interview of the Week, Brad Campbell, President of the Conservation Law Foundation

• #30x30
• #monumentsforall
• Boston Harbor
• Conservation Law Foundation

This week we caught up with Brad Campbell, the President of the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF).  Brad has had a long career in environmental law, in Washington at the Justice Department and White House Council on Environmental Quality, then as the EPA Regional Administrator for the Mid-Atlantic and as the Environment Commissioner for the State […]

• Animals

Can New Technology Save the North Atlantic Right Whale? Yes, But Only If It’s Used

• conservation
• Conservation Law Foundation
• IFAW
• lobster
• North Atlantic Right Whale
• science
• whales

Earlier this week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report on large whale entanglements, looking at data from 2007 to 2018, and found that entanglements are up significantly, with 80% of those involving fishing gear. 

Why This Matters:  Emerging technologies that eliminate the ropes in the water column have been developed — the “catch” is getting fishers to use it.