After reading the text attached to the petition, it does not sound like the people behind the petition are even claiming that there is an ecological need for their protection any more. Can we assume that since they are not arguing that the species Needs protection, that it in fact no evidence to support that claim?
We have witnessed the curious nature of these massive creatures and watched them roll on their sides to have their bellies scratched by a diver. Fisherman and spear-fisherman wish to hunt them for sport, but we cannot see the sport in shooting an animal that willfully approaches divers.
We, the undersigned, are extremely opposed to the removal of protected status from these gentle giants.
So the most convincing reason to protect them is because they are cute...While this logic has worked to secure the protection from hunting of dolphins I sincerely hope that we do not see this trend continued. If you can block one species from collection solely because it is cute, then you have a very easy path to block the collection of all species of fish - all you have to do is argue that they are cute, which is not that hard to do. And then what would we eat? And what would we put in our aquariums - if fish are too cute to kill, they are probably also too cute to be forced to serve a life sentence in a 2'x2' jail cell? And to really hit at the heart of MOFIB's mission, unlike protection for ecological purposes, where aquaculture of threatened species is encouraged, protecting a species because it is cute, would also forbid eating or possesing aquacultured fish as well because it is not like aquacultured fish are any less cute.
While I agree with your desire to increase the protections of many fish that are threatened by overfishing, I adamantly oppose protecting them just because they are cute. If there really is an ecological need to continue the ban of fishing for Jewfish - please use that argument, if not, please don't try to block the fishery being reopened - focus your time and effort on a species that is actually in need of protection - it is not like there are not plenty of other species that really do need increased protection.