CLCV Launches SomethingsFishyAboutPSO.com
New Campaign Exposes Million Dollar Effort by Out-of-State Interests to Kill California Ocean Protection Efforts
PR Newswire
07/29/2009
SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The
California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) today launched a
statewide campaign and Web site (www.somethingsfishyaboutpso.com)
that unmasks the "Partnership for Sustainable Oceans" (PSO), an
industry front group that is raising more than $1 million from foreign
and national fishing equipment manufacturers, boat makers, and
Washington, D.C.-based trade associations to torpedo California's
efforts to protect depleted fisheries and marine life off the Pacific
coast. CLCV is the non-partisan political arm of California's
environmental community.
"Like the now-defunct Tobacco Institute, the PSO, despite
its eco-friendly name, is nothing more than a front group for the
fishing industry and boat manufacturers that are more interested in its
short-term profits than the long-term health of California's fisheries
and marine life," said CLCV president Warner Chabot. "Its
misinformation campaign about the science of marine protected areas,
and hefty campaign contributions from its backers to anti-environment
candidates in California show this industry group's true colors."
Chabot says PSO and its financial backers have been
involved in efforts to delist the Florida manatee from the Endangered
Species Act, supported weakening the Marine Mammal Protection Act to
allow killings of the protected California sea lion, and fought federal
and state regulations to ban lead sinkers that have killed water birds
throughout North America. They even opposed the Bush Administration's
minimal efforts to protect ocean life, including the establishment of
the Mariana Trench National Monument and Rose Atoll National Monument
off American Samoa in the Pacific.
"Our oceans are in danger and need protection," says
Chabot. "This out-of-state corporate 'greenwashing' campaign is
attempting to undermine a process that has involved thousands of
anglers, conservationists, and scientists from California over the past
decade. No one should be fooled by PSO's hardball tactics, which are
designed to undermine common-sense attempts to rebuild sustainable
fisheries off our coast. The oceans are in crisis and this front group
is not part of the solution - it's part of the problem," said Chabot.
"This shameless front group has taken the extreme
position that this state law should be suspended," said Chabot. "This
is an outrageous demand from an out-of-touch group of extremists. We've
launched this Web site to expose these hypocrites and their key
backers."
PSO, notes Chabot, is financially supported by the
fishing gear and bicycle parts company Shimano, whose U.S. operations
are based in Irvine, Calif., along with dozens of other national
fishing equipment manufacturers.
PSO is an offshoot of the Washington, DC-based American
Sportsfishing Association and National Marine Manufacturers
Association, a large contributor to anti-conservation candidates,
including former California Members of Congress Richard Pombo and John
Doolittle.
