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Don’t Let Longlines Desecrate the Pristine Waters of the Turks and Caicos

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longliner

It’s no secret that longline fishing is one of the most indiscriminate killers among fishing gear types of all sorts of sea life, with thousands of untended hooks per line killing countless billfish, large sharks, sea turtles and sea birds.

Many nations have outlawed or least reduced this scourge in their waters.

So talk of longliners being allowed in the waters of the fish-rich Turks and Caicos, where tourism is so important, seems particularly onerous.If word gets out among visiting anglers of seeing longline boats working the same areas where sport fishermen are trying to catch and release billfish, they’ll begin booking trips to other destinations.

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Yet the islands’ government may permit a project that would allow commercial longlining for pelagics in the country’s waters.

Conservation and sport-fishing interests, with help from The Billfish Foundation, have initiated a petition to let Turks and Caicos government officials know that thousands of people do not want to see longlines come to that country’s waters.

Take 60 seconds to put your name on that petition! Just click here — do it now.

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