seaturtle.org : MTN : ARCHIVES : Sign In

Marine Turtle Newsletter 85:27-30, © 1999

Marine Turtle Newsletter-Online

NEWS AND LEGAL BRIEFS

This section is compiled by Michael Coyne. Please submit news and legal briefs regarding marine turtles to the MTN-online website <https://seaturtle.org/mtn/> or forward via e-mail to mtn@seaturtle.org with the subject header: MTN News and Legal Briefs. It is requested that a copy of original news sources be faxed to M.Coyne at +1 301 713 4384 or mailed to: 1305 East-West Hwy, Rm 9216, Silver Spring MD, 20902, USA.

Mexican Senate Approves Ratification of The Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles.

Mexico is on the way to becoming the second country to ratify the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles. On 29th April, the Mexican Senate approved the ratification, and once the law is published in the Diario Oficial, and the Mexican Government deposits its instrument of ratification with the Depositary country, Venezuela, there will be a total of two ratifications with Venezuela being the first. At least eight ratifications are needed before the treaty will come into force.

More Turtles Strand in Texas

Wildlife officials are blaming boat propellers, fishing line and shrimpers' nets for at least 40 dead or near dead sea turtles that have washed up on Texas beaches in the past two weeks [26 April, 1999]. Most of the dead turtles found during the past two weeks were Kemp's ridley and green sea turtles. Wildlife authorities around the state examined the turtles and found that one died from being caught in a gill net, another died apparently from getting tangled in a fishing line and three appear to have been killed by boat propellers. Accidental drowning in shrimpers' nets is implicated as a strong possibility in many of the cases in which cause of death could not be determined. Source: Houston Chronicle, 26 April, 1999.

OLDPESCA Pass Resolution on the Ratification of the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles

The Conference of Ministers of OLDEPESCA held in Lima, Peru, passed a resolution regarding the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles as well as the recent ruling by the Court of International Trade of the USA (Resolution 167-CM-99). There are three points to the resolution: to urge countries of the Americas, whether or not they are members of OLDEPESCA, to ratify or acceed to, the Convention whichever is appropriate; to reject the recent rulling of the Court of International Trade of the USA, in which it was found that certification for importation of shrimp into the USA must be on a nation-to-nation basis and not a shipment-by-shipment basis; and to thank the government of Mexico for their offer to provide collaboration to the countries of the region in use of turtle excluder devices (TEDs). Source: Carlos Mazal, Executive Director of the Latin Amercian Organization for Fisheries Development (OLDEPESCA), 7th May, 1999.

US Restricts Latin American Shrimp Imports

The United States of America has removed five countries from the list of those nations eligible to export shrimp to the United States without special requirements. The five countries (Costa Rica, Guyana, Panama, Surinam and Trinidad & Tobago) were on the list in 1998 but failed to meet a May 1st deadline for ensuring that their sea turtle protection programs meet the requirements of US law. The United States can quickly re-certify those countries that bring the programs into compliance. The 12 countries which currently meet the standard are: Belize, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Thailand and Venezuela. Twenty-five other countries can also export shrimp to the United States without special procedures, either because their fishermen do not use dangerous techniques or because they fish for shrimp only in cold waters, where there is little risk of capturing turtles. Consignments of shrimp from other countries need to have special documentation certifying that they were harvested in a way that does not threaten sea turtles. Source: Reuters, 3rd May, 1999. <http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/990503/bfc.html>

Trade Court Backs Turtles

The Court of International Trade, in a 4-2 decision, ruled that Washington's adjustment of regulations governing shrimp imports is not in compliance with US law. The new regulations were an attempt to meet World Trade Organization (WTO) stipulations without changing US environmental law. The ruling will complicate US compliance with an October 1998 WTO ruling that a US environmental law protecting sea turtles in shrimp fishing violates the free trade agreement. In March, the State Department proposed to comply with the WTO by adopting a "shipment-by-shipment importation" standard, under which exporters say they are using Turtle Excluder Devices on their shrimp boats even if other boats in their country don't use the devices, which save turtles. This did not satisfy the Court of International Trade. "The court concludes that the part of the 1998 guidelines which constitutes the decision to permit the importation of TED-caught shrimp from uncertified nations, on its face is not in accord" with US environmental law. Source: Miami Herald, 9th April, 1999.

NOAA Snares Shrimp Trawlers

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has charged owners and operators of Texas shrimp trawlers with violating sea turtle protection laws. On April 27th, 1999 a NOAA Protected Resources Enforcement Team (PRET) boarded the fishing vessel Miss Polly Bud off Mustang Island, near Port Aransas, Texas. The enforcement agents found one shrimp trawl net without a turtle excluder device (TED) installed and an endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtle in a net with a TED that did not meet minimum turtle escape requirements. The turtle was alive and was successfully returned to the Gulf of Mexico. NOAA has assessed a total civil penalty of $5,000 against the trawler's operator and owner for the TED violations and for taking a sea turtle.

An additional PRET operation boarded the fishing vessel Tortuga Viejo on April 7th off Padre Island, Texas to find the escape openings on all four of the trawler's turtle excluder devices (TEDs) sewn shut. NOAA has assessed a civil penalty of $4,000 against the trawler's operator and a $4,000 penalty against the trawler's owner. In addition, the PRET seized the 2,116 pounds of shrimp aboard the trawler and sold them for $10,124.70. NOAA has filed to seek the forfeiture of the proceeds from the seized shrimp. The Director of NMFS's Southeast Region has expressed concern with the increased frequency of TED violations by trawlers discovered in recent weeks.

Concerned citizens may report fishery violations during weekly business hours of 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. EST., to its Southeast Region Law Enforcement Division on (727) 570-5344, or after hours and weekends at its National Enforcement Hotline on (800) 853-1964. Source: NOAA Press Release, 26th April and 6th May, 1999. <http://www.noaa.gov/public-affairs/press99.html>

Supreme Court Allows Sea Turtle Lawsuit

The US Supreme Court today refused to review a lower court order allowing citizens to hold local government accountable for actions that harm endangered species. Specifically, the high court declined to hear an appeal of County Council of Volusia County, Florida v. Loggerhead Turtle, leaving a ruling from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals intact. The justices, without comment, turned away arguments that local governments cannot be sued under the federal Endangered Species Act for allegedly doing a bad job of regulating private citizens' conduct.

In the Loggerhead Turtle case, two citizens sued Volusia County over its beachfront lighting policy. A federal trial judge dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that the county could not be sued because its regulation of lighting did not in itself illegally "take'' a protected species. Under the federal law, "take'' means to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, kill, trap, capture or collect a protected creature. In August 1998, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the lawsuit, ruling by a 2-1 vote that there was proper legal standing to sue the county for its allegedly inadequate regulation of ''light users'' in developed beach areas.

In the appeal acted on by the Supreme Court, Volusia County's lawyers argued that the appeals court wrongly had expanded the reach of the federal law. No other court previously had ruled that the absence of private-conduct regulation can violate the Endangered Species Act. Interpreting the law in that way, the appeal said, intrudes on state sovereignty in violation of the Constitution's 10th Amendment. Source: Associated Press, 19th April, 1999

Olive Ridley Turtles Return to Orissa

Mass nesting by tens of thousands of endangered olive ridley sea turtles has been reported after a three year absence on the beaches of Orissa on India's east coast. Environmentalists hailed the turtles' return as the fruit of a massive protection exercise launched by volunteer groups and government departments against drowning of the turtles in illegally operated trawl fisheries. The 13,575 dead Olive Ridley turtles that were counted off the coast of Orissa in 1997-98 sent shock waves through the world conservation community. The Wildlife Institute of India has recorded nearly 40,000 dead turtles washed ashore on the coast over the past four years.

Efforts by the State Wildlife Department, the Coast Guard and Operation Kachhapa have provided a relatively disturbance free area within the marine sanctuary, compared to the rampant fishing and deaths of turtles prevalent there in previous years. Still, more than 8,000 dead turtles have been recorded this year along other parts of the Orissa coast. Operation Kachhapa provided large sea-going boats for the enforcement authorities to patrol the coastal waters. Trawlers are backed up with smaller support vessels, equipment and camps to protect key beaches, plus legal assistance for the prosecution of the owners of seized fishing trawlers.

Fifty-one trawlers and gill netters have been seized this year by the authorities for illegal fishing. A conservation centre has been set up at Rushikulya, another coastal nesting site south of Ekakulanasi. Operation Kachhapa has also lobbied the regional and federal Indian authorities to improve turtle protection measures and has launched a multi-language awareness programme about the turtles' plight. Source: Environment News Service, 14th April, 1999.

NMFS Protects Migratory Leatherbacks

An aerial survey conducted on April 27th, 1999 along the South Carolina coast documented 70 leatherback turtles over a total survey trackline of 327 nautical miles (nm). The US National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) established regulations (60 FR 47713 September 14th, 1995) to provide protection for leatherback turtles when they occur in locally high densities during their annual, spring northward migration along the Atlantic seaboard. Within the Leatherback Conservation Zone, NMFS must close an area for 2 weeks when leatherback sightings exceed 10 animals per 50 nautical miles (nm) (92.6 km) during repeated aerial surveys.

As a result, all Atlantic Ocean and inshore waters, out to 10 nautical miles from shore, between 32 degrees north latitude (approximately Tybee Island, GA) and 33 degrees north latitude (approximately Cape Romain, SC) have been closed to fishing by shrimp trawlers required to use Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs), unless the TEDs were modified to allow very large leatherback sea turtles to escape. The closure went into effect for 2 weeks (until May 21, 1999). NMFS will continue to monitor the presence of leatherback sea turtles along the Georgia and South Carolina coasts. Continued high abundance of leatherbacks may require extension or modification of the closure. Source: NMFS Southeast Fishery Bulletin, 7th May, 1999.

Florida Lighting Ordinances Update

On 27th April, the St. Johns County Commission voted unanimously to enact a countywide lighting ordinace, joining 14 other counties and 39 municipalities in Florida in passing mandatory lighting ordinances to protect sea turtles. Also in Florida, within the past year, Franklin County and the City of Pompano Beach passed lighting ordinances.

The town of Neptune Beach is currently considering whether to enact a lighting ordinance and will be holding meetings on May 3rd and June 7th to discuss the issue. Source: Sandy MacPherson, USFWS National Sea Turtle Coordinator, Sea Turtle Recovery Update, April 1999.

Sea Turtle License Plate Update

Since the Florida sea turtle license place became available in February 1998, over 20,000 plates have been purchased by Florida residents. Distribution of the $17.50 special fee for each plate goes into the Marine Resources Conservation Trust Fund (MRCTF), of which up to $500,000 annually goes toward funding the State of Florida's Marine Turtle Protection Program. Revenue collected in excess of $500,000 goes toward supporting a small grants program for sea turtle conservation and education programs. Revenue deposited in MRCTF in the State's Fiscal Year 1997/1998 was $86,420; revenue deposited in the MRCTF in Fiscal Year 1998/1999 (as of March 30, 1999) was $293,992.42 (included renewals). Source: Sandy MacPherson, USFWS National Sea Turtle Coordinator, Sea Turtle Recovery Update, April 1999.