2/11/2001 928

PETITION FILED TO LIST PACIFIC RED SNAPPER UNDER ESA - 1ST COMMERCIAL MARINE FISH TO APPROACH EXTINCTION

On 1-25-01, the Center for Biological Diversity, Natural Resources Defense Council and the Center for Marine Conservation petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service to list the Pacific red snapper (also called "bocaccio") as a federally "threatened species" in California. As the first commercial marine species to have declined to a level at which extinction is possible, the fate of the snapper heralds a growing crisis in commercial fisheries around the world.

Bocaccio once was the dominant species of rockfish caught by trawl fishermen on the Pacific coast, but its numbers have declined 98% since 1969. Overfishing is the principle threat, with habitat degradation likely being a contributing factor as well. In recent decades commercial fishing technology has advanced tremendously making fish-finding equipment highly accurate, nets stronger, and fishing gear more versatile. Combined with an increase in fishing boats, expanded fishing areas and inadequate management, these innovations have led to severe over-fishing.

The habitats of both young and adult bocaccio are also under pressure. The piers, rocky areas and kelp forests inhabited by young bocaccio are near the urbanized coast and are degraded by stormwater runoff, oil spills and other pollution. The deep waters favored by adult bocaccio have been altered by the repeated scraping of the ocean floor by heavy trawl nets and other bottom-fishing gear.