Shadegg Steps Forward For Billfish
Republicans are generally opposed to legislative action to take care of environmental concerns, favoring instead industrial economic interests. As an example, we could look at U.S. Representative John Shadegg, who recently wrote a press release entitled, “Latest Offshore Drilling Moratorium Proves Obama Doesn’t Care About our Nation’s Economy and American Jobs”.
Yet, John Shadegg’s approach to environmental legislation is not uniform. In fact, just last week, Representative Shadegg led a bipartisan team to introduce environmental legislation of his own: The Billfish Conservation Act, H.R. 5804.
The bill would ban the sale, import, export, and even the possession of billfish or products containing billfish. What’s a billfish? They’re large predator fish that live in the ocean that have hard, sharp bills on the front of their heads. Species included in this group, and specifically protected by Shadegg’s proposed legislation, are: Blue marlin, striped marlin, black marlin, sailfish, shortbill spearfish, white marlin, roundscale spearfish, Mediterranean spearfish, and longbill spearfish. According to the Take Marlin Off The Menu Coalition, “if we don’t stop the widespread harvest and consumption of marlin and other billfish, we may risk losing them from the world’s oceans.”
The bill exempts Xiphias gladius (the swordfish) from protection, due to the success of the swordfish’s North Atlantic protection, which Seafood Watch describes as “nearly rebuilt”.
The following U.S. Representatives have added their co-sponsorships to the Billfish Conservation Act:
Republican Joseph Cao
Republican Mario Diaz-Balart
Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz
