Quick Hits: September 23, 2020
Two European boat shows are set to move forward next month. The first of these — the 60th Genoa Boat Show — will kick off next week on Oct. 1 after being approved by local health authorities, and run until Oct. 6. Later in the month will be the 22nd Biograd Boat Show in Kornati, Biograd na Moru, Croatia from Oct. 21-25. Ilirija, the show organizer, expanded the event to five days to reduce crowding at what’s being billed as the largest in-water show in Central Europe.
Keep America Fishing, the advocacy arm of the American Sportfishing Association, has issued an action alert urging anglers to support a bill that would ban what the group calls “highly destructive large mesh drift gillnets in Pacific waters” — mile-long, nearly invisible net that’s already banned in the rest of the United States. The Senate unanimously passed the Driftnet Modernization & Bycatch Reduction Act, and now advocates are pushing for the House to pass companion bill H.R. 1979 in the House. “Drift gillnets are an outdated commercial fishing method that produce excessive bycatch and waste, including of popular sportfish, marine mammals and sea turtles,” reads an excerpt from the sample letter to Congress.