U.S. Shrimpers Must Open Nets Wider for Sea Turtles

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, August 21, 2003 (ENS) - A new federal rule that took effect in the Gulf of Mexico today will protect endangered and threatened sea turtles by requiring U.S. shrimp fishermen to use larger turtle excluder device (TED) openings in their nets.

Turtle excluder devices act as escape hatches for sea turtles. Current TEDs are too small to allow large, mature sea turtles such as leatherbacks, loggerheads and green turtles, to escape from shrimp nets. All six species of sea turtles in U.S. waters are listed as either endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Scientists with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, the federal agency responsible for the management of ocean fisheries, expect that annual deaths of endangered leatherback sea turtles will decline 97 percent and that annual deaths of threatened loggerheads will decrease 94 percent as a result of the new protections.

Turtle excluder device held by a fisheries officer in Biloxi, Mississippi, 1996. Shrimp are swept into the bag at the end of the net and cannot swim out. (Photo courtesy NOAA)

Oceana led a coalition of environmental groups during the last two years to obtain stronger protections for sea turtles, organizing support in Congress and generating public debate.

Of the approximately 8,000 letters sent to NOAA Fisheries on the TEDs rule during the public comment period, about 7,700, or 93 percent, supported greater protection for sea turtles.

But industry groups say the larger turtle excluder devices permit too many shrimp to escape. "It's a disaster," said George Barisich, president of the United Commercial Fisherman's Association, referring to the new requirement.

The devices cost the shrimping industry millions of dollars each year, Barisich says, pressuring shrimpers already dealing with high fuel and insurance costs, overfishing and competition from low cost imported shrimp.

NOAA Fisheries’ data for both the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico regions indicate that properly installed and operated TEDs with larger openings lose between zero and two percent of shrimp caught.

The federal agency estimates that the cost of retrofitting a net to comply with the new rule is $220.

Financial assistance is available to shrimpers who have complied with current TED regulations under a $35 million disaster relief package for shrimpers from North Carolina to Texas passed by Congress earlier this year. The amount of disaster funds distributed to each state is in proportion to the percentage of shrimp landed by each state.

To qualify for relief assistance, according to Robin Riechers, management director for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Coastal Fisheries Division, a shrimper must have held a commercial license between September 1, 2001 and August 31, 2002 and must also have used TEDs in its nets during that period.

Before turtle excluder devices loggerhead turtles like this one in Florida were casualties of shrimping operations. (Photo by Bob Williams courtesy NOAA )

“We support assistance for shrimpers,” said Gray, “because it ensures that local shrimpers can maintain their livelihood while still protecting the lives of endangered and threatened sea turtles.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says sea turtles are long lived, but scientists are uncertain how long they live because there is no known way to determine their age. Sea turtles are migratory and swim through the waters of more than one country in their lifetimes.

Loggerhead, green, leatherback, and hawksbill sea turtles regularly nest on beaches within the United States and all depend upon U.S. coastal waters for foraging and migratory habitat during certain stages of their life history, the agency says.

The Kemp's Ridley sea turtle, which occasionally nests in the United States, is dependent on the shallow coastal habitats of the U.S. east coast and the Gulf of Mexico for foraging and developmental habitat.

The Olive Ridley sea turtle does not nest in the United States, but during feeding migrations, Olive Ridley turtles nesting in the Pacific may disperse into waters of the southwestern U.S., occasionally as far north as Oregon.

On February 20, NOAA Fisheries issued the rule requiring U.S. shrimp fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic to use larger turtle excluder device openings in their nets. The new rule goes into effect in the Gulf of Mexico today, six months after the new protection announcement was issued.

Shrimpers in the South Atlantic were required to start using the larger TEDs on April 15.