Since 2010, the number of dead sea turtles washing up on Gulf of Mexico's beaches has increased to about six times the yearly average. Six hundred dead sea turtles were found in 2010, and 563 in 2013.
The Washington Post reported that lax enforcement of environmental protection laws is to blame. Advocacy group Oceana obtained over a dozen e-mails from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) fisheries providing evidence that shrimping vessels neglected to properly install “turtle excluder devices,” which are designed to keep turtles out of their gear. The metal grid is made so turtles can push against it and escape. Installed properly, it is almost 100% effective.
NOAA e-mails describe Louisiana inspections by calling compliance “poor at best.” At the port of Cameron, only one out of nine vessels complied with the law. In Intracoastal City and four other boarding areas, the majority of vessels failed inspection.
According to Jaclyn Lopez, attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, "Every day protections are delayed is another day that these sea turtles face the very real risk of drowning in shrimp nets."
Sign this petition to demand that the U.S. government take sea turtle protection laws more seriously! No more sea turtles should have to die when there is already a solution to shrimping net problems.
