It’s Friday, November 16, and fishers are getting crabby over climate change.
In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, the West Coast’s largest coalition of fishermen is suing 30 fossil fuel companies for their role in contributing to climate change.
The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. It claims that Chevron, ExxonMobil, and BP, among others, have knowingly played “a direct and substantial role” over the past 50 years in contributing to global carbon dioxide emissions that “warm the planet, change our climate, and disrupt the oceans.”
Why do West Coast fishers care? Because warmer waters produce more toxic algal blooms which, in turn, lead to toxin-laden crabs and dramatically shorter fishing seasons.
“We’re out fishing all the time, and it’s obvious the oceans are getting warmer,” John Beardon, a California Dungeness crab fisherman, told InsideClimate News. “That’s bad for crabs and other fish, and it’s bad for those of us who make a living on the water.”
States such as California, Colorado, and Washington have turned to the courts to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for climate change. But this suit marks the first time a private industry group has sued over the risks climate change poses to their livelihood.
The Smog
Need-to-know basis
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