The huge webs of strong nylon mesh, known as drift nets, can cover a slice of ocean up to 40 miles wide and 40 ft. deep. In North Pacific waters, fishermen from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan routinely let the nets float for as long as nine hours at night. They are intended to catch squid, but they also scoop up sea turtles, porpoises, seals, birds and various kinds of fish. Environmentalists call them killer nets and accuse those who use them of "strip-mining" the ocean.
Of particular concern to the U.S. and Canada is the damage inflicted by the nets...
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