Scientists Say Alarming Rise in Sea Turtle Deaths in Gulf Likely Linked to Failure to Properly Use Turtle Excluder Devices

For Immediate Release, August 18, 2010
Contact:
Andrea Treece, Center for Biological Diversity, (415) 378-6558
Todd Steiner, Turtle Island Restoration Network, (415) 663-8590 x 103
Deborah Sivas, Stanford Environmental Law Clinic, (650) 723-0325

U.S. Government Will Take a New Look at Impacts of Shrimp Trawling on Imperiled Sea Turtles

Scientists Say Alarming Rise in Sea Turtle Deaths in Gulf Likely Linked to Failure to Properly Use Turtle Excluder Devices

PENSACOLA, Fla.— The National Marine Fisheries Service announced on Tuesday that it will examine whether shrimp trawling in the southeast United States, including the Gulf of Mexico, is jeopardizing threatened and endangered sea turtle populations. The government made this decision after finding unprecedented numbers of drowned sea turtles in the Gulf, particularly in Mississippi Sound.

The Center for Biological Diversity and Turtle Island Restoration Network, represented by the Stanford Law Clinic, had petitioned the government last month to undertake this new analysis under the Endangered Species Act and delay further shrimp trawling until adequate protections were in place. Despite significant concerns regarding its impacts on threatened and endangered sea turtles, the National Marine Fisheries Service allowed shrimp trawling in the Gulf to begin again this week.

“These turtles face even more serious challenges to their survival since BP spewed millions of gallons of oil and chemical dispersants into their habitat,” said Andrea Treece, an attorney with the Center. “Right now they need all the help we can give them. Losing even more turtles to drowning in shrimp trawls may just be too much for some species to rebound from.”
Wildlife rescuers have collected more than 1,000 sea turtles since the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout, more than of which 500 were dead. Scientists say that drowning was a primary culprit in death of sea turtles they’ve examined. Shrimp fishing can kill sea turtles when the air-breathing animals are caught in the trawls and prevented from surfacing to breathe; it is recognized as the annual leading cause of mortality to adult turtles from industrial fishing activities in the Gulf of Mexico and throughout the world.

Todd Steiner, executive director of Turtle Island, said today: “Shrimp fishing combined with the BP oil spill is a double whammy for sea turtles, especially the Kemp's ridley turtle, that pushes them ever more close to extinction. We expect the government's new biological opinion to issue hard caps on the number of turtles that can be caught in shrimp nets — and when that cap is reached, the fishing season must end to allow the species a chance to recover.”

Shrimp trawlers are required to install and use turtle excluder devices (TEDs), which allow sea turtles caught in shrimp nets to escape to the surface to breathe. However, reports of widespread non-compliance with excluder requirements and other measures designed to save turtles indicate that more remains to be done to protect the species.

“The government needs to do more than study whether shrimp trawling is jeopardizing sea turtles. It needs to ensure that adequate measures are in place and being enforced to protect those sea turtles,” said Deborah A. Sivas, a professor of environmental law and director of Stanford Environmental Law Clinic, which is representing the California- and Texas-based Turtle Island Restoration Network and the Center for Biological Diversity.

The Fisheries Service suspects that lingering effects from the BP Horizon oil spill may also be making sea turtles more vulnerable to being caught and drowned in trawls. The Gulf of Mexico provides crucial breeding, feeding and migratory habitat for five of the world’s seven species of sea turtles: Kemp’s ridley, loggerhead, green, leatherback and hawksbill. All are protected under the Endangered Species Act.
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Sea Turtle Deaths from Shrimp Fishing to Get New Review After Notice to Sue Filed by Conservation Organization

Sea Turtle Restoration Project-Texas
Help Endangered Animals-Ridley Turtles
Gulf Office: P.O. Box 681231, Houston, Texas 77268
Telephone and FAX 281 444-6204
www.ridleyturtles.org
www.seaturtles.org


NEWS RELEASE

A lawsuit threatened by the Sea Turtle Restoration Project (STRP) has brought action from the National Marine Fisheries Service to stop the killing of sea turtles across the Gulf of Mexico. Their Southeast Regional Office has announced it will reinitiate Section 7 consultation on shrimp trawling under the Endangered Species Act in both state and federal waters of the southeastern United States.

“Shrimp fishing continues to injure and kill thousands of sea turtles in the Gulf each year because many shrimpers refuse to utilize a simple piece of equipment called a Turtle Excluder Device that can allow turtles to escape their nets,” said Carole Allen, Sea Turtle Restoration Project’s Gulf of Mexico Director.

STRP filed a 60-day Intent to Sue Notice in July following reports of hundreds of dead sea turtles in Mississippi waters. Examinations of dead turtles showed few of them died from oil but instead from “forced submergence” in shrimp trawls. Others have been killed by sand dredging in Louisiana where the shrimping season reopened on August 16. Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) are not required on shrimp trawls in their state waters threatening even more sea turtles. In addition, recent NOAA inspections of the east Texas shrimp fleet found problems with TED implementation.

Shrimp fishing is the major cause of human-induced sea turtle mortality according to scientists. Tens of thousands of sea turtles are caught each year in US waters in giant nets drug along the bottom resulting in serious injury and death.

Todd Steiner, Biologist and Executive Director of STRP, said today: "Shrimp fishing combined with the BP oil spill is a double whammy for sea turtles, especially the Kemp's ridley turtle, that pushes them ever more close to extinction. We expect the government’s new biological opinion to issue hard caps on the number of turtles that can be caught in shrimp nets-- and when that cap is reached, the fishing season must end to allow the species a chance to recover."

Updated Sea Turtle Nesting for 2010

Subject: Texas Nest Update species correction

Today, it was discovered at hatching that a nest previously identified as
loggerhead is actually Kemp's ridley. This nest had been found on Boca
Chica Beach. Tallies are adjusted accordingly below.

KEMP'S RIDLEY TURTLE
So far this year, 140 Kemp's ridley nests have been confirmed on the Texas
coast including (north to south in state):
Bolivar Peninsula 3
Galveston Island 8
Brazoria County, just north of Surfside 3
Surfside Beach 1
Bryan Beach 1
Matagorda Peninsula 2
Matagorda Island 2
San Jose Island 1
Mustang Island 5
North Padre Island 82, including 74 at Padre Island National Seashore
South Padre Island 28
Boca Chica Beach 4

The state total of 140 is less than the record 197 Kemp's ridley nests
documented in Texas during 2009.


LOGGERHEAD TURTLE
So far this year, 5 loggerhead nests have been confirmed on the Texas coast
including (north to south in state):
Brazoria County, just north of Surfside 0
North Padre Island 5, including 5 at Padre Island National Seashore

The state total of 5 is less than the record 6 loggerhead nests documented
in Texas.


GREEN TURTLE
So far this year, 9 green turtle nest has been confirmed on the Texas coast
including (north to south in state):
North Padre Island 9, including 9 at Padre Island National Seashore


The state total of 9 sets a new record of green sea turtle nests documented
in Texas. The previous record was 5.

Alabama Hatchling Emerging From Nest

Cool video of hatchling emerging from the nest in daytime!

You will see a hatchling (not a ridley) making his way out of the nest on a beach in Alabama. It was a daytime hatching and volunteers sat in the sun to make sure the hatchlings were protected when they emerged and went to the water.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifxMBDSlIag

MEDIA ADVISORY: Teleconference with Sea Turtle experts

What: A teleconference call with federal sea turtle experts who will discuss the latest numbers of sea turtles that may have been affected by the BP oil spill, ongoing sea turtle rescue efforts, nest translocation/hatchling release efforts, updated necropsy results and the turtle observer program.

Who: -NOAA Fisheries, National Sea Turtle Coordinator, Barbara Schroeder-U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Sea Turtle Coordinator, Sandy MacPherson -National Park Service, Rick Clark, Chief of Science and Resource Management, Gulf Islands National Seashore and Donna Shaver, Chief of Sea Turtle Science & Recovery, Padre Island National Seashore

When: 1:00 p.m. EDT/Noon CDT, Wednesday, August 4, 2010Call-in Info: Teleconference, call-in number: (866) 304-5784. International callers use (706) 643-1612. Passcode: 91578966.For information about the response effort, visit www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com.