Thousands of Sea Turtles Die in U.S. Fishing Gear

At least 4,600 sea turtles are dying in fishing gear each year in this country, and that's outrageous.

All six species of sea turtle found in U.S. waters are at risk of extinction and are protected by the Endangered Species Act. Sea turtles are beautiful, majestic animals, and if we want our children and grandchildren to be able to swim in seas that are full of turtles, then we have to give them a breather.

The 4,600 figure comes from a new study, and according to scientists at Oceana, the actual number of sea turtles killed in U.S. fisheries is likely significantly higher because we know little about what many fisheries are actually catching.

We know that shrimp trawl nets in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Coast are a big culprit, accounting for a whopping 98 percent of all sea turtles caught in U.S. fisheries. The use of turtle escape hatches (also called turtle excluder devices or TEDs) in shrimp trawls is supposed to keep most of these turtles from drowning but recent evidence shows that fishermen are not properly using this gear. This is another reason why the real number of turtles dying in U.S. fisheries is likely much higher than 4,600.

The good news from the study is that we have the tools we need to protect sea turtles -- but we have to try harder. Strong sea turtle protections and enforcement of those protections are urgently needed.

As Oceana scientist Elizabeth Griffin Wilson points out, we have to take a more big picture approach to protecting sea turtles. The government needs to look at the impacts of all fisheries on sea turtles and ensure consistent protections. For example, most shrimp trawlers need those sea turtle escape hatches, but other fishermen -- like the scallop trawlers on the East Coast -- don't have to use gear that would let the turtles escape the nets.

It's crazy: The government lists these animals as endangered or threatened with extinction but then allows thousands of them to get killed. It is senseless.

Sea turtles have been swimming the oceans since before the dinosaurs. Are we going to let them go extinct now because we can't step back and see the big picture?

You can help by joining Oceana in the fight to get sea turtles off the hook.

 

Comments

[g9]

07:27 PM on 10/30/2011

TED's do work (a) if instaled properly...(b) if used properly...
...they are a pain-in-the-a to use....
some enforcement is there , more is needed

[deweaver]

02:46 PM on 10/30/2011

It took the BP blow-out for the government to necropsy the bodies of dead turtles in hopes of being able to assessing BP tens of thousands of dollars per turtle. Lo and behold! instead of the anticipated (and fine-engendering) oil in the turtles' lungs, they found shrimp and mud. It took these necropsy's for environmental activists to begin to realize that shrimp bottom trawlers are not using the required turtle escape devices and that the law requiring their use is meaningless for these "salt of the earth" commercial shrimp trawlers.

Turtle mortality is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of problems arising from bottom trawlers clear cutting the ocean bottoms. However, shrimp bottom trawlers are too PC for the activist environmental organizations (eNGO's) to be concerned about. More than 25 years ago the WWF decided to focus on opposing shrimp farming. At a time when there was almost no farmed shrimp, and shrimp bottom trawlers had no TED's and no limits on turtle killing, they chose to ignore a real problem in the shrimp trawling industry. Not an unreasonable decision, I suppose: why pick a fight with someone who is PC and can fight back when you can attack a small powerless industry such as the startup shrimp farms.

[FEsrigoHL]

08:24 PM on 10/29/2011

A partial help for the turtles would be to take the eggs as they asre laid to transport them to another beach and bury them. The turtles that survive to breeding age will go back to the beach from which they hatched.

[billywms]

04:20 PM on 10/27/2011

Tragic,Just Tragic.

[janny09]

12:01 PM on 10/27/2011

It's the lax attitude of the fisherman that will eventually make the Green Sea Turtle (or Honu in Hawaii where they are religious creatures), be gone from the oceans. There needs to be a high fine for every sea turtle killed. The methods spoken of in the article are readily available; the lazy fishermen just won't implement them. I have swam many times with these gentle creatures and they are so helpness; it is up to humans to furthur protect our turtles and save them.

[Neil20]

10:57 AM on 10/27/2011

That's the problem. The government couldn't be bothered about turtles. It's one big American marine environment tragedy. Why can't the federal and the various state government implement regulations that penalize trawlers that do not employ TED's correctly and completely? Why can't the Coast Guards be employed to keep a check on the trawlers that catch these turtles? I think all environmentalists across the nation must raise their voices unitedly to ensure that more care is taken for the protection of this and other highly endangered species. This as well as the problem of over-fishing and the dumping of trash into the ocean should be viewed seriously by the the EPA. Can you imagine what will happen to the American marine and land environment if the Republicans get the opportunity to dismantle the EPA?

[Just4theHalibut]

03:52 PM on 10/30/2011

"The government couldn't be bothered about turtles". Demonstrably false. The bycatch of turtles has been substantially decreased in the last 20 years, DUE to government regulations (mostly federal). Has turtle bycatch been reduced enough? Certainly not, present rates are still unacceptable. Are better enforcement, more fines, and higher observer coverage needed? Absolutely. Would Republicans reverse the progress made, if they could? You betcha. As for the Coast Guard, they are the most over-worked, underfunded branch of the military. Besides vessel safety/rescue missions they are now overwhelmed with drug-interdiction and anti- terrorism duties, I am afraid there just isn't much left over for turtles.