July, 06 2011, 02:32pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Todd Steiner or Teri Shore, Turtle Island Restoration Network, 415-663-8590, ext. 103 or 104
www.seaturtles.org
Miyoko Sakashita, Center for Biological Diversity, 415-632-5308
Andrea Treece, Earthjustice, (510) 550- 6789
Emma Cheuse, Earthjustice, (202) 667-4500 ext. 220
David Godfrey, Sea Turtle Conservancy, 352-373-6441
Sierra Weaver, Defenders of Wildlife, 202-772-3274
Cynthia Sarthou, Gulf Restoration Network, 504-526-1528 ext. 202
Court Rules That Sea Turtles Need Stronger Protections After BP Oil Spill
Judge Orders Actions to Prevent Loggerhead Capture in Gulf Longline Fishery
SAN FRANCISCO
Conservation groups scored a victory in court Tuesday to gain new protections for imperiled sea turtles from death and injury in the Gulf of Mexico bottom longline fishery for grouper, tilefish, and sharks. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) violated the law when it failed to adequately protect loggerhead sea turtles from capture and death in the fishery and refused to take a fresh look at the fishery's impact on sea turtles after last year's massive Gulf oil spill. Download the opinion here.
"Sea turtles and oil don't mix,"said Todd Steiner, biologist and executive director of Turtle Island Restoration Network, based in Marin County, California. "If we want sea turtles to survive and recover from the BP spill, we need to stop allowing hundreds to die a cruel inhumane death at the end of baited longline fishing gear."
Thousands of loggerhead hatchlings were displaced and likely perished during the BP Oil spill, while hundreds of adult turtles continued to drown on fishing hooks - a double whammy for the population that nests along the East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. The species has declined by 80 percent over the past decade and is now pending for listing as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
"The loggerhead was already in trouble when the BP oil spill hit," said Teri Shore, Program Director at Turtle Island Restoration Network. "A whole generation of hatchlings may have been lost due to the spill while so many nesters have died in fisheries that they are sliding toward extinction. Now the loggerheads might have a chance to recover from this double hit."
In the case decided yesterday, Turtle Island Restoration Network along with Gulf and national conservation groups had challenged the agency's decision to reopen the Gulf bottom longline fishery in 2010 despite finding that it would kill hundreds of loggerheads per year in a turtle population that has experienced a severe nesting decline over the past decade. The fishery was closed down in 2009 for six months after it captured more than 8 times the number of sea turtles authorized by NMFS, but later re-opened without adequate protections for the declining loggerheads.
The court's ruling yesterday highlighted that the NMFS admitted that the oil spill was an "unprecedented" event that has "resulted in adverse effects on [ESA] listed sea turtles," and that "oil spills of the magnitude of the Deepwater Horizon MC252 spill were not considered" in the 2009 biological opinion. Therefore, the court determined, the agency's "failure to reinitiate consultation violated Defendants' continuing duty to assess jeopardy under the implementing regulations of the ESA." (P. 22.) The court also found that NMFS had failed to take a "hard look" at the option of continuing its prior ESA rule, which protected loggerhead sea turtles in a significant part of their Gulf residence area, before deciding what new action to take to regulate the fishery. (P. 25).
The groups also challenged the agency's failure to engage in the required scientific consultation after the oil spill which is needed to determine whether NMFS should require additional protection. These actions by NMFS allowed the injuring or killing of over seven hundred loggerheads through 2011 and another six hundred thereafter every three years - which is more than seven times as many as the bottom longline fishery vessels were allowed to capture or kill under the previous rules.
The coalition of conservation groups included Earthjustice, the Sea Turtle Conservancy, the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Gulf Restoration Network and Turtle Island Restoration Network. They had previously filed suit against NMFS to protect the threatened loggerhead turtle from longline fishing, a dangerous fishing practice that catches large numbers of non-target animals that cannot escape the bottom longline hooks.
"The court confirmed that NMFS's decision not to take a fresh look at the fishery's impacts on a sea turtle population whose home has since been ravaged by the largest oil spill in U.S. history violates the law and threatens to push this already declining species closer to the brink," said Andrea Treece, staff attorney with Earthjustice. "This fishery affects one of the world's most important loggerhead nesting populations and some of the most critical feeding areas for these turtles. If this iconic species is ever to recover, NMFS must offer them real protection - not trap their feeding grounds with hooks and tangling lines."
"Problems with loggerhead turtle bycatch plagued the Florida bottom longline fleet even before the 2010 Gulf drilling disaster made life harder for this threatened species," said Cynthia Sarthou, Executive Director of the Gulf Restoration Network. "In the wake of this disaster more must be done to protect and restore our marine wildlife."
"This is a big win for sea turtles," says Sierra Weaver, staff attorney for Defenders of Wildlife. "It takes little more than common sense to know that the government has to reconsider the impact of the fisheries on struggling sea turtle populations in the Gulf in light of the current conditions caused by the enormous Deepwater Horizon blowout."
"It's time for the government to step up to the plate when it comes to protecting loggerhead sea turtles and their habitat in the Gulf of Mexico," said Miyoko Sakashita, attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. "At a time when they're already threatened by pollution and climate change, we need to protect as many turtles as possible from avoidable death and injury in fishing gear."
"Sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico, especially loggerhead turtles, face a gauntlet of threats that are rapidly reversing decades of progress in recovering these species," said David Godfrey, executive director of the Florida-based Sea Turtle Conservancy. "This court ruling is an important victory because it orders NMFS to examine the cumulative impacts of the oil spill, habitat loss and other sea turtle threats before permitting this highly destructive Gulf longline fishery to continue killing so many turtles each and every year."
LATEST NEWS
Joe Lieberman, Iraq War Cheerleader and Killer of Public Option, Dead at 82
"Joe Lieberman's legacy will live on as your medical debt."
Mar 27, 2024
While current and former officials across the U.S. political spectrum shared praise for and fond memories of former Sen. Joe Lieberman in response to news of his death on Wednesday, critics highlighted how some of his key positions led to the deaths of many others.
Lieberman's family said the 82-year-old died at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital after a fall at his home in the Bronx. He served in the Connecticut Senate, as the state's attorney general, and in the U.S. Senate—initially as a Democrat and eventually as an Independent. He was also Democratic former Vice President Al Gore's running mate in the 2000 presidential election.
"Up until the very end, Joe Lieberman enjoyed the high-quality, government-financed healthcare that he worked diligently to deny the rest of us. That's his legacy," said Melanie D'Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health, which advocates for universal, single-payer healthcare.
As Warren Gunnels, majority staff director for Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.),
explained, "Joe Lieberman led the effort to ensure the Affordable Care Act did not include a public option or a reduction in the Medicare eligibility age to 55."
Noting that Lieberman also lied about the presence of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq—which was used to justify the 2003 U.S. invasion—Gunnels asked, "How many people unnecessarily died as a result?"
He was far from alone in highlighting the two defining positions.
The Lever's David Sirota declared, "RIP Joe Lieberman, Iraq War cheerleader who led the fight to make sure Medicare was not extended to millions of Americans who desperately needed the kind of healthcare coverage he enjoyed in the Senate."
The Debt Collective said on social media that "Joe Lieberman killed so many people when he killed the public option. Not to mention all the people he killed by cheerleading every war and every lie that led to war. A truly horrible person with a shameful legacy."
Journalist Jon Schwarz pointed out that Lieberman continued to lie about the WMDs long after the claims were debunked.
FormerMSNBC host Mehdi Hasan noted that Lieberman declined an opportunity to apologize for the disastrous war, sharing a clip from his on-camera interview with the ex-senator in 2021.
And please don\u2019t give me this \u2018don\u2019t speak ill of the dead\u2019 stuff - 1) I\u2019m not speaking ill, I\u2019m stating facts, and 2) public figures are public figures, and their obits reflect their legacies and so we should be honest in our accounts of their legacies. Not offensive but honest— (@)
"We lost a giant today. I often disagreed with Joe Lieberman but he was always honorable in the way he called for American troops to murder people abroad so he could get his jollies," said Matt Stoller of the American Economic Liberties Project in a series of sarcastic social media posts.
"Joe Lieberman balanced his love of other people fighting in immoral wars with a commitment to preventing Americans from getting healthcare," Stoller added. "Even after his Senate career, he showed his strong democratic values by lobbying for Chinese telecom firms. We will miss this man."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Enough Is Enough': Ireland Joins ICJ Genocide Case Against Israel
"What we saw on October 7 in Israel, and what we are seeing in Gaza now, represents the blatant violation of international humanitarian law on a mass scale," said one top Irish official.
Mar 27, 2024
Citing Israel's "blatant" human rights violations in Gaza, Ireland's second-highest-ranking official said Wednesday that the country will join the South Africa-led genocide case before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Irish Tánaiste Micheál Martin—the equivalent of a deputy prime minister in other parliamentary nations—said that Ireland decided to intervene in the case after analyzing the "legal and policy issues" pertaining to the case under review by the United Nations' top court.
"It is for the court to determine whether genocide is being committed," Martin—who also serves as Ireland's foreign and defense minister—said in a statement. "But I want to be clear in reiterating what I have said many times in the last few months; what we saw on October 7 in Israel, and what we are seeing in Gaza now, represents the blatant violation of international humanitarian law on a mass scale."
Martin continued:
The taking of hostages. The purposeful withholding of humanitarian assistance to civilians. The targeting of civilians and of civilian infrastructure. The indiscriminate use of explosive weapons in populated areas. The use of civilian objects for military purposes. The collective punishment of an entire population.
The list goes on. It has to stop. The view of the international community is clear. Enough is enough. The U.N. Security Council has demanded an immediate cease-fire, the unconditional release of hostages, and the lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale. The European Council has echoed this call.
South Africa's case—which is supported by over 30 countries, the Arab League, African Union, and others—incisively details Israel's conduct in the war, including the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians, mostly women and children; the wounding of tens of thousands more; the forcible displacement of 90% of the besieged enclave's 2.3 million people; and the inflicting of conditions leading to widespread starvation and disease. The filing also cited numerous genocidal statements by Israeli officials.
On January 26, the ICJ issued a preliminary ruling that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza and ordered its government and military to prevent genocidal acts. Palestinian and international human rights defenders say Israel has ignored the order.
A draft report
released this week by the U.N.'s Human Rights Council found "reasonable grounds to believe" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a move that came on the same day as the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the ongoing war.
"The situation could not be more stark; half the population of Gaza face imminent famine and 100% of the population face acute food insecurity," said Martin. "As the U.N. secretary-general said as he inspected long lines of blocked relief trucks waiting to enter Gaza during his visit to Rafah at the weekend: 'It is time to truly flood Gaza with lifesaving aid. The choice is clear: surge or starvation.' I echo his words today."
In a St. Partick's Day White House meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden—a staunch supporter of Israel—Irish Toaiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar, who announced earlier this month that he would soon step down, said that "the Irish people are deeply troubled about the catastrophe that's unfolding before our eyes in Gaza."
"And when I travel the world, leaders often ask me why the Irish have such empathy for the Palestinian people," he added. "And the answer is simple: We see our history in their eyes—a story of displacement, of dispossession and national identity questioned and denied, forced emigration, discrimination, and now hunger."
Keep ReadingShow Less
House Democrat Calls GOP Budget a 'Blueprint for a Dystopian Hellscape'
Rep. Don Beyer warns the plan "would see unbridled benefits flowing to a wealthy and well-connected few while tens of millions of Americans lose healthcare, housing, retirement security, and food security."
Mar 27, 2024
As Republicans on Wednesday set their sights on a key seat opening up in the U.S. House of Representatives, the chamber's senior Democrat on the congressional Joint Economic Committee put out a blistering takedown of a top GOP budget proposal for the next fiscal year.
Congressman Don Beyer (D-Va.) took aim at the 180-page "Fiscal Sanity to Save America" plan released last week by the Republican Study Committee (RSC)—which includes about 80% of GOP House members—following proposals from Democratic President Joe Biden and House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas).
"The Republican Study Committee budget is a blueprint for a dystopian hellscape," he warned. "The vision offered by this group, which counts 4 in 5 House Republicans as members, would see unbridled benefits flowing to a wealthy and well-connected few while tens of millions of Americans lose healthcare, housing, retirement security, and food security."
RSC proposals to "dramatically weaken healthcare," Beyer noted, include turning Medicare into a voucher plan and rolling back Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provisions that cut costs for seniors; repealing tax subsidies for the Affordable Care Act and the law's protections for people with preexisting conditions; and transforming Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program into block grants to states.
As Common Dreams has reported, in addition to seeking cuts to Medicare and Social Security—while claiming to do nothing of the sort—the RSC has also launched a full-fledged assault on reproductive healthcare and rights, promoting 42 bills that would ban abortions after 15 weeks or even earlier, require unnecessary ultrasounds and 24-hour waiting periods, prohibit the use of fetal stem cells for research, and threaten access to in vitro fertilization, among other restrictions.
In addition to attacking reproductive freedom and key programs for seniors and low-income families, Beyer highlighted, the RSC wants to "weaken public health, public safety, and environmental protections," while "cutting taxes for the wealthy, by a lot."
The RSC advocates ending green tax credits from the IRA and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as well as slashing money for Community Oriented Policing Services and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The committee also calls for permanently lowering taxes for the ultrarich, indexing capital gains taxes to inflation, repealing the estate tax, rolling back the IRA's corporate alternative minimum tax, and eliminating funding intended to help the Internal Revenue Service catch wealthy tax cheats.
"Democrats believe there is a better way to get our fiscal house in order without betraying our values," said Beyer. "That starts with making smart investments in our people and our future while demanding that the rich and large corporations pay their fair share in taxes. The contrast between the Democratic approach and this Republican budget could not possibly be clearer."
Biden's budget blueprint—released as he prepares for an electoral rematch against former Republican President Donald Trump, who infamously cut taxes for rich people and corporations—proposes a 25% minimum tax for individuals with wealth of more than $100 million, along with ending capital income tax breaks and closing other loopholes.
Polling results released Tuesday by Morning Consult show that a majority of voters across party lines in key swing states support raising taxes on people who make more than $400,000 per year.
Biden and the divided Congress this past weekend narrowly avoided a government shutdown by passing a long-delayed spending package. Fiscal year 2025 is set to begin in October, setting up another election-year fight over funding.
In what's been
dubbed the "Great Resignation," a growing number of House Republicans have announced that they are not seeking reelection or even exited their seats early—shrinking the party's already slim majority in the lower chamber.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular