seaturtle.org :
MTN :
ARCHIVES :
Sign In
Marine Turtle Newsletter 107:22-24, © 2005
NEWS AND LEGAL BRIEFS
This section is compiled by Kelly Samek. You can submit news items at any time online at <https://seaturtle.org/news/>, via e-mail to news@seaturtle.org, or by regular mail to Kelly Samek, 127 E 7th Avenue, Havana, Florida 32333, USA. Many of these news items and more can be found at https://seaturtle.org/news/, where you can also sign up for news updates by E-mail.
AFRICA
Measures Planned to End Bycatch Menace
The scale and nature of seabird, shark and turtle bycatches by Namibia’s 45 longline vessels is unknown. A new study funded by the Benguela Large Marine Ecosystem Programme (BCLME) will address the incidental bycatch of longline fishing operations in the Benguela region. The project will determine the scale of the bycatch problem and also introduce simple and appropriate measures to try and avoid the senseless killing of seabirds, turtles and sharks. Despite an observer system being in place in Namibia, there are no available figures on the bycatch. Angolan figures are also not known. Source:
The Namibian, 12 August 2004.
THE AMERICAS
Ocean Watchdog Groups Sue NOAA over Longline Hooks
Ocean watchdog groups are challenging new hook rules for longline fishermen who catch tuna and other fin fish in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, contending that the changes did not do enough to protect endangered and threatened sea turtles. Oceana and The Ocean Conservancy have filed a lawsuit to overturn the new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration rules, which let fishermen use hooks that environmentalists say are untested and potentially dangerous for sea turtles. And this past week, the groups asked a
federal judge to close down two “hot spots”--one about 200 miles south of Louisiana and the other in the northeast Atlantic--until the legal dispute is settled. Source: Associated Press, 1 August 2004.
Shrimp Boat Seized with Turtle Excluders Sewn Shut
A Brownsville fishing boat was seized Thursday by the U.S. Coast Guard for shrimping with sewn-together Turtle Excluder Devices to increase bounty, a federal crime. Law enforcement from the U.S. Coast Guard boarded the Wild Orchid — a 66-foot commercial fishing boat — about 27 miles southeast of Port Aransas. During the boarding, the Coast Guard discovered that the boat’s Turtle
Excluder Devices were sewn shut. More than 4,700 pounds of shrimp were seized, and the Coast Guard escorted the Wild Orchid to Port Aransas. Source: Brownsville Herald, 18 August 2004.
Mexico’s Olive Ridley Sea Turtles Make a Comeback
Sea turtles are spawning in record numbers along Mexico’s Pacific coast this year, thanks largely to stepped up protection against poachers, the nation’s environmental watchdog said. Some 27.2 million Olive Ridley turtle eggs are under guard in nests at main breeding beaches in Oaxaca state, the environmental protection agency Profepa said. Of those, about 9 million are likely to hatch, the highest numbers in 20 years, the agency said. Source: Reuters, 15 September 2004.
Costa Rican Shrimp Fishermen Request Delay on TEDs
On August 6, 2004, a group of Costa Rican shrimpers representing various fishing organizations and companies sent a letter to the US State Department expressing concerns about a new mandatory modification to TEDs and requested one year to test the new design in Costa Rican waters. The modification consists of widening the hole where turtles exit the shrimp nets from 32 to 72 inches. This modification is currently scheduled to become mandatory in Costa
Rica starting September 1, 2004. The wider hole became mandatory for TEDs used in US waters two years ago when it was determined that old dimensions were failing to allow large turtles such as leatherbacks and loggerheads to escape from nets. However, Costa Rican fishermen do not feel the new dimensions are necessary in Costa Rica. Source: PRETOMA press release, 18 August 2004.
Federal Court’s Ruling Keeps Key Scallop Fishery Open
In a victory for fishermen, a federal judge in Washington has ruled that scallopers may continue to tow their dredges in a mid-Atlantic fishery where the New Bedford fleet lands approximately 80 percent of its catch. In July, the environmental group Oceana asked U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle to temporarily close the fishery until the National Marine Fisheries Service acted to protect endangered sea turtles that migrate through the area during the spring and fall. Huvelle denied Oceana’s motion. Loggerhead, leatherback,
Kemp’s ridley and green sea turtles have been caught and killed by heavy scallop dredges in the mid-Atlantic zone that stretches from Long Island, N.Y., to Cape Hatteras, N.C. Oceana called for the fisheries service to re-evaluate how the commercial scallop fishing industry affects sea turtles and to increase the number of scientific observers who board vessels to collect catch data. Source: Associated Press, 20 August 2004.
Scallopers’ Sea Turtle Guards Need More Testing
New gear designed to protect endangered sea turtles from scallop dredges needs further testing, fishery analyst Andrew Applegate said yesterday at the New England Fishery Management Council meeting. The turtle chains, which are draped across the mouth of dredges to keep turtles out, have shown some success, but more research is needed to determine how the chains affect turtle
mortality, said a report from the council’s Sea Scallop Committee. After reviewing the report, the council voted against a request from the scallop industry to require all boats to rig their dredges with the $1,000 turtle chains. The council chose instead to leave the issue in the hands of the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is examining ways to protect turtles under the Endangered Species Act. Members of the scallop industry, who helped design the turtle chains, were upset with the council’s decision. Source: Standard-Times, 15 September 2004.
US Commission on Ocean Policy Report
The US Commission on Ocean Policy, “An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century” has made significant changes in its final report to President Bush that will benefit endangered sea turtles. From among 800 public comments on the preliminary report, the commission specifically addressed comments by the Sea Turtle Restoration Project that too little attention was being paid to sea turtles being pushed to the brink of extinction by industrial long-line fishing. However, the commission failed to respond to other crucial comments to end conflicts of interest on the regional fisheries management councils. Source: Sea Turtle Restoration Project press release, 18 September 2004.
Ivan Debris Prompts Temporary Lifting of TEDs
With waters in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama clogged by debris from Hurricane Ivan, federal fishing regulators have decided to allow shrimpers to forgo use of devices on their nets that save sea turtles. The National Marine Fisheries Service this week said that shrimpers will not need to use so-called turtle excluder devices, commonly known as TEDs, on their trawl nets. Instead
of TEDs, shrimpers are being asked to limit their tow times. By not trawling as long, officials hope any sea turtles caught in nets will not be harmed or killed. Federal regulators said they issued the exemption upon the request of state officials who said debris was causing TEDs to become clogged and ineffective. Source: Associated Press, 15 October 2004.
New Study Says Bush Administration Bad for Sea Turtles
New rules that have reopened US waters to long-line fishing for swordfish and tuna have been corrupted by faulty science and political influence, says a new study released today by the Sea Turtle Restoration Project. The report, Techno-Fixing Sea Turtles: How the Bush Administration’s Manipulation of Science is Driving the Leatherback Sea Turtle Towards Extinction, documents how an
admittedly flawed and incomplete report by government scientists has provided the basis to reopen the hotly contested fisheries which have been closed as a result of recent lawsuits by the Sea Turtle Restoration Project and other conservation groups. Source: Sea Turtle Restoration Project press release, 27 September 2004.
Dead Sea Turtles Wash up on Beaches
Nearly two dozen dead sea turtles washed up on Maryland and Delaware beaches in early September. At least nine of the animals have been found on Assateague Island and in Ocean City, MD., since Sept. 1 2004. In Delaware, marine stranding response teams have examined 17 of the reptiles in a week. So far, scientists say they have few clues as to why the large loggerheads and leatherbacks died. They have found no evidence that they were ill or fell victim to some environmental hazard they encountered in the deep waters
off the Atlantic coast. Some researchers speculated that violent weather in recent weeks in the Atlantic Ocean might have created new or altered currents that have pushed the turtle carcasses onto beaches. Testing on animals that nearly were intact has not been completed. Source: Associated Press, 12 September 2004.
Mexican Authorities Destroy Illegal Turtle Meat in Ensenada
Mexican officials this week destroyed more than 500 pounds of illegal sea turtle meat found during a search along the Baja California coast. Sea turtle meat is a popular delicacy, but the animals are endangered and Mexico bans the hunting, transportation, sale or consumption of turtle products. The turtle meat was kept frozen during a judicial investigation. The federal Attorney General’s Office for Environmental Protection announced that the products-
-including meat, fins and heads--were destroyed at a landfill in Ensenada. Source: Associated Press, 10 September 2004.
Groups Sue Over Fishing Longline for Swordfish
The reopening of longline swordfish fishing by Hawaii-based boats could cause the extinction of the endangered leatherback sea turtle and is killing thousands of protected albatrosses annually, three environmental groups charge in a lawsuit filed yesterday in U.S. District Court. The National Marine Fisheries Service violated federal law by reopening swordfish fishing without first preparing an environmental impact statement, the groups said in the lawsuit. Earthjustice filed the suit on behalf of the Center for Biological
Diversity, Ka Iwa Kua Lele and the Turtle Island Restoration Network. Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 31 August 2004.
ASIA
Lebanon’s Sea Turtles and Their Nests Under Threat
With sea turtles endangered throughout the world, Lebanon, and especially the South, has fast become known as one of the marine reptiles’ main nesting areas. Government measures designed to protect the animals and its fragile habitats have lagged behind the global trend. A recent sea turtle mapping effort along Lebanon’s northern borders with Syria to its southern limits with Palestine recently revealed that Lebanon’s beaches shelter the eggs of two
species out of seven across the globe: The loggerhead sea turtle and the green sea turtle. To protect this animal, which dates back to the dinosaurs, the government has taken several measures since the late 1990s, including a law banning the hunting, selling and buying of sea turtles, passed in 1999. A national action plan to protect sea turtles is also in the works. Source: Daily Star, 11 August 2004.
New Effort Needed to Save Pacific’s Turtles, Scientists Warn
The Worldfish Centre, an international research group based in Malaysia, has called a conference of experts to draft a national action plan as part of a global drive to prevent the extinction of some turtle species. The independent organisation, funded by private foundations and governments, said in a statement that turtle populations in Malaysia and the Pacific “have experienced steep decline for the past two decades and many are in serious trouble but they can still be saved”. The conference will be attended by
more than 40 specialists from Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia,
Thailand, Australia and the United States. Source: Agence France-Presse, 13 August 2004.
Indonesian Vessel Caught Smuggling Turtle Eggs
A “surprise check” of an Indonesian vessel turned up 6,555 endangered marine turtle eggs being smuggled into Singapore on Thursday. The green and hawksbill turtle eggs weighing more than 400 kilograms were seized when the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority examined the boat carrying eight crew members at the
Jurong Fishing Port, said the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA). The contraband was estimated to be worth S$5,000 (US$2,923) and was turned over to the AVA for further investigation, a statement said. Source: Jakarta Post, 16 September 2004.
Declare Turtle Sanctuaries,WWF Urges Isabela Gov’t
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is urging the Isabela (Philippines) provincial government to immediately declare beaches in the towns of Dinapigue, Palanan and San Mariano, all covered by the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park, sanctuaries for endangered sea turtles. Nesting green sea turtles and hawksbill turtles were first spotted by environmentalists there 10 years ago. Interest in the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park was revived following a survey conducted last July by the WWF and the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources of the Park’s 120-kilometer coastline. Source: Philippine Star, 20 September 2004.
Offshore Drillings Threaten Olive Ridley Turtles
When the endangered olive ridley turtles return to Orissa’s coast for their annual synchronised mating and nesting, they will find large drilling rigs for gas disturbing their tranquillity. The classic battle between environment and development is being played out near the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary in Orissa’s Kendrapada district, 174 km from here, the world’s largest turtle nesting site. And also the site for offshore drilling by India’s leading business house, Reliance Industries. One of nature’s annual miracles could be disrupted as 700,000-800,000 olive ridley turtles begin swimming their way to
Gahirmatha with the onset of every winter to congregate, mate and nest. Source: Indo-Asian News Service, 26 October 2004.
EUROPE
Mystery of Wales Turtle ‘Solved’
A new study suggests leatherbacks should be viewed as a UK/Irish species which simply visits the Caribbean to breed. Marine ecologists at Swansea University and University College Cork used satellite-tracking systems to follow 10 leatherbacks from their nesting sites in the tropics. Contrary to expectations, the tracking showed the turtles did not stay long in the Caribbean, but spent most of their time in food-rich northern waters, including those around the British Isles. Source: BBC News, 23 August 2004.
WWF Treats 130 Turtles in Four Months
At least 130 marine turtles have been treated and released back into the wild in the past four months. The WWF marine turtle rescue centre in Lampedusa is in a flurry of activity, just like it is every summer. Just two days ago, 10 turtles which had been restored to health were released in front of about a thousand tourists who had come to witness the occasion. At least 500 of these turtles come to the centre every year, as well as over 10,000 visitors. As well as the Centre being involved in conservation, it also has a scientific
function of rehabilitation. Source: Agenzia Giornalistica Italia, 28 August 2004.
Greece Charged over Turtle Protection
The European Commission has announced that Greece will be charged for failing to protect an endangered turtle species. The charge comes after an original warning in 2002 over the protection of the rare loggerhead sea turtle, which occupies waters around the island of Zakynthos. The Commission claims that the government is not doing enough to protect the breeding sites of the turtle
on Zakynthos’ beaches despite some initial work, and the latest charge will serve as a final warning before action is taken. Source: GreenConsumerGuide.com, 20 October 2004.