Conservation groups are threatening to sue the National Marine Fisheries Service if it doesn’t act immediately to protect sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico.
They’re calling for the Fishery to adhere to its legal obligations under the Endangered Species Act because its long line fishing practices captured nearly 1,000 threatened and endangered sea turtles between July 2006 and the end of 2007.
Even though the fishery has far exceeded the number of turtles it is allowed to take under the Endangered Species Act, the Fisheries Service, has declined to close the fishery while it studies options for reducing turtle take, a decision the conservation groups claim is illegal.
“Allowing this fishery to continue to kill threatened and endangered turtles while the government studies the problem is irresponsible and illegal,” said Andrea Treece, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.
The Gulf of Mexico bottom longline fishery operates primarily off the west coast of Florida, an area that provides key habitat for several sea turtle species, including loggerhead, Kemp’s ridley, and green turtles.
Bottom longliners lay a mainline up to 10 miles long with as many as 2,100 baited hooks. Sea turtles are caught when they attempt to eat the bait or become entangled when swimming near a line.
“The use of longlining in the Gulf of Mexico is tragic. Loggerheads, Kemp’s ridleys and other sea turtles die caught by a fishing method that has no regard for the waste it entails and the death of endangered species,” said Carole Allen, Gulf office director of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project. “It reminds many of us of the slaughter of sea turtles drowning in shrimp trawls before Turtle Excluder Devices were required.
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