CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY SUES OVER U.S. FAILURE TO PROTECT ENDANGERED HUMP BACK WHALES

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICAL: U.S. FAILING TO PROTECT ENDANGERED SPECIES - HUMPBACK WHALES by Bob Egelko

Excerpt: the law gives the highest priority to protecting species "whose level of iincidental mortality and serious injury exceeds the potential biological removal level, those that have a small population size, and those which are declining most rapidly," the judge wrote.  He said such measures are required for commercial fisheries whose activity causes serious injury or death to marine mammals, a description that "fits to the tee the ESA (Endangered Species Act) listed humpback whales and pot fishery here."