There are environmentally responsible and cost effective ways for commercial fishermen to harvest fish from the oceans. Drift longlining is not one of them. A drift longline can be a single cable up to 40 miles long with thousands of baited hooks. Commercial longline fishermen usually target only one or two type of fish, typically (swordfish or tuna). On the east coast, longline fishing has obliterated the swordfish and tuna fisheries. Longlining has been outlawed in millions of square miles in this area. These longline boats traditionally wipe out fish populations in one area, and then move on to search and destroy other more fertile habitats. Longline fishing is non-selective. Millions of turtles, sharks, sea birds, marlin, sailfish, seals, other sea animals and mammals are caught, killed and discarded at sea as ''by-catch.'' Although the longline fishermen do not want these other species, there is little they can do to stop them from biting the long string of hooks and being killed. Even though there are laws to protect birds, turtles and sea mammals, longlining inevitable kills these animals and continues in certain areas. Much of the by-catch are good, edible fish, but the boats can not process it, so these unwanted fish are dumped back into the sea, dead. Fortunately, longlining is being outlawed in many areas. Millions of square miles off of Hawaii and the East coast are closed to longlining. Mexico has just passed legislation outlawing longlines in all Mexican waters. The National Marine Fisheries Service, Congress and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and other environmental groups acknowledge that longline fishing gear should be curtailed because of the ''by-catch'' problems. Longlining is currently prohibited off the West coast of California. Unfortunately, there is a proposal being pushed by commercial fishing interests to the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) to allow longline operating permits off the coast of California. What can you do? Please take five minutes right now to complete and send e-mails opposing this proposal. It is very simple. (CLICK HERE) You can select one of the 6 preformatted letters below. Please edit it so your letter is personalized and click submit email. This message was submitted to Sport Diver by...