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Franklin Fire in Malibu explodes to 2,600 acres; some homes destroyed; Colorado health care costs rose 139 percent between 2013-2022; NY, U.S. to see big impacts of Trump's proposed budget cuts; Worker-owned cannabis coops in RI aim for economic justices.

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Debates on presidential accountability, the death penalty, gender equality, Medicare and Social Security cuts; and Ohio's education policies highlight critical issues shaping the nation's future.

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Limited access to community resources negatively impacts rural Americans' health, a successful solar company is the result of a Georgia woman's determination to stay close to her ailing grandfather, and Connecticut looks for more ways to cut methane emissions.

Deep dives near CA's southern islands aim to show harm from gillnet fishing

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Thursday, September 19, 2024   

Marine biologists conducting deep dives near five California islands are collecting data they hope will strengthen the case for ending gillnet fishing within a three-mile radius. The Channel Islands often are called the "Galapagos of North America" - due to their diverse ecosystem.

Caitlynn Birch, a marine scientist with the group Oceana, is part of a dive team collecting environmental DNA water samples and said they're analyzed in a lab to detect virtually all the animals and plants there, through the "footprint" they leave behind in the water column.

"This is important because the Channel Islands is an extremely biodiverse region, due to the topography of the sea floor, due to the oceanographic currents - and so, it creates a really unique habitat for many animals," she explained.

Fisherman use invisible gillnets along the seafloor to catch profitable halibut and white sea bass. But whales, sea lions and sharks can also be trapped. The method is banned off the coasts of Central and Northern California, but still used in federal waters, offshore banks, and around the Channel Islands. A bill before California lawmakers would end those exemptions.

About 30 fishermen still have active set gillnet permits in Southern California, but the state has stopped issuing new permits. Those who fish the waters say it would threaten their livelihoods, while Birch believes it would help protect critical habitat for vulnerable and recovering animals.

"Each island is so diverse and different from one another - different rocky substates, and different animal and plant life on the physical islands. And then, it's interesting to see how that's correlated below and what sorts of different species and assemblages that we're seeing at each of the islands," Birch continued.

This month, divers have collected samples on Santa Barbara, Anacapa, Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa islands. The waters there provide feeding areas and migratory routes for large whales - including endangered humpback whales - nurseries for great white shark pups, breeding and foraging habitat for California sea lions and giant seabass, cold-water corals, and giant kelp forests.


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