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.

BP Oil Spill: STRP Actions to date

Summary of Actions Taken by STRP

Environmentalists Seek Greater Protection for Sea Turtles Imperiled by BP’s Oil Spill

Environmentalists Seek Greater Protection

for Sea Turtles Imperiled by BP’s Oil Spill

Scientists Fear Double Whammy of Drowning in Oil and

Shrimp Nets Will Lead to Extinction in the Gulf of Mexico

HOUSTON – With BP’s massive oil spill in the Gulf pushing rare sea turtles closer than ever to extinction, two environmental groups today petitioned the federal government for an emergency extension of the shrimp fishery seasonal closure. The closure is scheduled to expire Thursday, July 15. The groups also asked the National Marine Fisheries Service to conduct an analysis required by the Endangered Species Act before allowing the fishery to open as usual to determine whether sea turtles would be jeopardized.

“The government needs to ensure that sea turtles are adequately protected when the shrimp season opens,” said Deborah A. Sivas, Professor of Environmental Law and Director of Stanford Environmental Law Clinic, which is representing California-and Texas-based Turtle Island Restoration Network, and the Center for Biological Diversity.

More than 600 sea turtles have been reported killed or injured since the Gulf spill, and scientists believe this is a tiny fraction of these endangered species that have and will be killed by the disastrous 86-day oil spill that continues to pollute the Gulf. Thousands of adults and hatchlings are leaving their nesting sites and are believed to be heading directly into the spill.

Scientists are concerned that until BP is able to ensure sea turtle survival from the massive oil slick that other threats to turtles need to be considered. Shrimp fishing can kill sea turtles, when the air-breathing animals are caught in the nets and prevented from surfacing to breathe. Shrimp fishing 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. To ensure the long-term viability of shrimp and fishing in the Gulf, precautions are needed now. The economic loss shrimpers face from the Deep Horizon oil spill should be fully compensated by BP, including any new restrictions that result that are necessary to prevent the extinction of sea turtles in the Gulf.

Todd Steiner, biologist and executive director of Turtle Island Restoration Network said, “Right now, we need to be protecting the remaining fish and wildlife in the Gulf, so it can provide a genetic pool for wildlife to re-colonize once this mess is cleaned up. This is not the time to be short-sighted and selfish to both future generations of fishers and the American public by vacuuming up all the life that has survived the oil disaster.”

“Sea turtles now face the double-whammy of perishing in the horrendous oil spill or drowning in shrimp nets, and together these threats may push some of the species into extinction in the Gulf,” said Carole Allen, Gulf of Mexico director for Turtle Island Restoration Network in Houston, Texas. “We won’t sit idly and allow this to happen without a fight to ensure everything is done to give these ancient species a fighting chance.”

Sea turtles have been present in the Gulf for tens of millions of years, having out-survived the threats that caused the extinction of dinosaurs, but all U.S. species now find themselves on the endangered species list, due to human impacts that include fishing, oil spills, other pollutants and poaching.

“Hundreds of sea turtles have already been found dead in the Gulf since the spill, and all of these turtles were already nearing extinction. Endangered sea turtles need every bit of protection available to secure their survival,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity, “BP is the bad guy here and owes it to shrimpers to make them financially whole, we support those efforts and urge BP to do the right thing.”

###

Urgent Need- Call Your US Sentators & Reps

I need a personal favor. Please call the Houston offices of the Texas senators tomorrow:

Kay Bailey Hutchison: 713-653-3456
John Cornyn: 713-572-3337

THEY ARE BOTH ON VACATION THIS WEEK BUT PERSONAL CALLS WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE. THEY HAVE EACH BEEN SENT INFORMATION SO THEIR STAFF WILL KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. YOU CAN GO TO THE STRP WEBSITE (WWW.SEATURTLES.ORG) AND SEND AN INTERNET MESSAGE TOO, BUT THE PERSONAL CALLS ARE THE MOST EFFECTIVE. PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ALONG SO WE CAN PREVENT ANY MORE KEMP’S RIDLEY HATCHLINGS FROM BEING RELEASED.

THANKS IN ADVANCE! We need to hurry.

CAROLE

Texas

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