Unalaska, AK – Greenpeace is taking a more humorous approach to lobbying the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council at this week's meeting in Portland. The environmental group created a spoof version of USA Today with headlines like "Huge area too deep to bottom trawl protected from bottom trawling" and "NOAA Habitat Conservation Division launches new initiative to actually conserve habitat." Then they wrapped the spoofs around the real copies of USA Today newspapers being distributed to all of the rooms in the hotel where council members were staying.

Greenpeace Oceans Campaign Director John Hocevar said the reactions have been mixed. "We had some council members who were not amused and not impressed, and we had other people who were named in the newspaper who were asking for copies and saying they were going to frame them. I think most people have had a sense of humor about it. Whether it makes people think differently or not is another question and that's of course what we're hoping."

The paper targets some of Greenpeace's major concerns, like the effects of trawling on critical ocean floor habitat and the effects of large scale pollock fishing on fur seals and Steller Sea Lions. Hocevar said the council needs to take a new approach to managing fisheries in the Bering Sea, one that takes into account the entire ecosystem.

"In many parts of the country and many parts of the world, people look to Bering Sea fisheries management as sort of the gold standard. And so by pointing out some of the problems with that, we can hopefully raise the bar worldwide, because it's far from perfect."

Greenpeace is lobbying to create a network of marine reserves in the Bering Sea that will serve as a buffer against uncertainty and change to protect the entire ecosystem, including the commercial fisheries.

You can see the entire newspaper here.