NMFS has begun a process to form new rules to protect sea turtle due to high strandings reported this year and last year. They intend to impose new rules on the Gulf shrimpers before shrimping begins in 2012.  

 

“Hundreds or thousands of sea turtle deaths could have been prevented this year if NMFS had acted on the new rules it is now debating,” says marine biologist Chris Pincetich, Ph.D. with the Sea Turtle Restoration Project of the Turtle Island Restoration Network. “Shrimpers are disregarding laws to protect sea turtles from drowning when shrimp is caught, yet they continue to deny any problem.”

 

The fact that over a third of shrimpers are not following the law is an improvement over previous inspections.  NMFS conducted inspections of TEDs in Louisiana last year and in Mississippi this year and found 90 percent of the TEDs were installed illegally and some had the sea turtle escape hatch in the TED sewn shut. Shrimpers out of compliance with the federal laws established in the early 1990s are linked by scientists to the recent increase in dead sea turtles on Gulf of Mexico beaches. NMFS TED inspection reports released in FOIA request earlier this year detail lack of TED compliance from August 2010 through April 2011 in Louisiana and Mississippi http://www.seaturtles.org/article.php?id=2072

 

“Areas in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama need to close shrimping during sea turtle nesting migrations, reduce the size of their shrimp fleet, and restrict inshore shrimping like Texas has to save endangered sea turtles,” said Carole Allen, Gulf of Mexico Director for the Sea Turtle Restoration Project. 

 

“Safe swimways for sea turtles free from deadly shrimp trawling and poisonous offshore oil activities must be created by NMFS to stop the continual slaughter of innocent sea turtles,” said Pincetich. “Baby sea turtles swim out and get caught is skimmer nets, and drown.”