National Marine Fisheries service has been notified by conservation groups that they are going to sue the agency and three Gulf of Mexico states for failing to protect endangered sea turtles from entanglement and drowning in shrimp trawls. Record numbers of dead sea turtles are turning up on Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama beaches.
After devastating impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on endangered sea turtles, the Fisheries Service has done nothing to enhance sea turtle protections. Jacyln Lopez, staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said that sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico that were lucky enough to survive the oil spill are now dying in fishing nets.
He added that this lawsuit is pure reminder to the Fisheries service that sea turtles need emergency action to save them. Chris Pincetich of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, said that the health of the Gulf and local sea turtles has been impacted by the BP oil spill, and now ‘business as usual’ shrimping operations are jeopardizing critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles.
Sierra Weaver, attorney for Defenders of Wildlife, said that in this country critically endangered sea turtles are allowed to drown unnecessarily in fishing gear after surviving tragic environmental disaster, which is unacceptable. David Godrey, executive director at the Sea Turtle Conservancy, explained that there are numerous reasons, the federal government should be very concerned that Gulf fishermen are not meeting U.S. turtle protection standards. Federal and state investigators are working to determine causes of the sea turtle strandings.
