Beach Trading Blog

We here at Beach Trading know our customers have a love for the waters, oceans and beaches of the world so we thought we’d share a list of ocean victories made possible in whole or part by our friends at Oceana, the largest international organization focused 100 percent on ocean conservation.

In 2008 they helped:

• Push destructive trawling protections over 1 million square miles. Oceana moved regulatory bureaucracies to add another 180,000 square miles of fragile seafloor in the Bering Sea as off-limits to destructive bottom trawling.
• Keep the French driftnet fleet off the water. Oceana’s Ranger catamaran videotaped ongoing violations of a 2002 ban on driftnets in the bluefin tuna fishery; in response, European Courts ordered the fleet off the water.
• Ban shark finning at sea for 90% of all USA-landed sharks. Pressure applied by members of Oceana, (regular folks like you), to Congress and NOAA resulted in new rules to land sharks with their fins attached, reducing the incentive to kill these apex predators for their fins.
• Shorten the Bluefin Tuna fishing season. In the Mediterranean, Oceana and their allies pushed officials to close this collapsing fishery early, preventing the killing of thousands of these giants just as they are about to spawn a new generation.
• Impose strict bycatch limits on the US’s largest fishery. Officials will now set strict limits on the number of chinook salmon caught as bycatch in the pollock fishery.

Some of their ambitious plans for 2009:

• Protecting and restoring sea turtle populations
• Protecting essential habitats, including the Arctic
• Reinstating the oil drilling moratorium on the ocean’s Outer Continental Shelf

So if you love the ocean and our beaches as much as we do then please consider Oceana the next time you make a donation. They help keep the oceans we love to swim, surf, paddleboard, snorkel and dive in clean and safe for ALL creatures.