U.S. Agencies Sued for Failure to Protect Sea Turtles

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service are being sued by three conservation groups for violations of the Endangered Species Act, specifically failure to protect loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles in U.S. waters.

“This is a classic example of the Fisheries Service dragging its feet. Sea turtles can’t continue to wait for these essential protections. More sea turtles will be caught and killed with each passing day, pushing them closer to extinction.” – David Allison, Oceana senior campaign director

Oceana, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Turtle Island Restoration Network filed the lawsuit for failing to meet the legal deadline for responding to three petitions concerning the two turtle species in U.S. waters. In two of the petitions, the conservation groups are pushing for the designation of North Pacific and western North Atlantic loggerhead turtles as distinct populations, and for moving the status of the animals from ‘threatened’ to ‘endangered‘.

Increased protection for the turtle’s marine habitats and nesting beaches were also called for in the petitions. Leatherback sea turtles migrate over 6,000 miles from nesting beaches in Indonesia to the coasts of California and Oregon to feed on jellyfish, and the groups asked the Fisheries Service to designate those areas as critical habitat.

The third petition urges the Fisheries Service to protect key migratory and foraging habitat for leatherback sea turtles in the waters off California and Oregon by designating the area as critical habitat. Critically endangered leatherback sea turtles migrate more than 6,000 miles from nesting beaches in Indonesia to feed on abundant jellyfish in these waters.

“Loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles have roamed the oceans for thousands of years, but they might not make it into the next century if we don’t do more to protect them right now. Delaying protective actions while threats like being captured and killed by indiscriminate commercial fishing gear, nesting beach destruction, and climate change continue to accelerate makes it that much harder to pull the species back from the brink.” – Miyoko Sakashita, Center for Biological Diversity staff attorney

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the population of loggerheads has dropped at least 80% in the North Pacific, and if no additional protections are provided for, they could become functionally extinct by the middle of the century. Nesting of loggerheads on beaches in Florida, previously considered to be home to the world’s second largest nesting population, has declined by more than 40% in the last 10 years.

“We’ll see the end of sea turtles in our lifetimes if we don’t stop them from drowning on fishing hooks and in nets. The U.S. must enforce its own laws.” -  Teri Shore, Turtle Island Restoration Network

Images: loggerhead: coda at Flickr/ leatherback: Paul Mannix at Flickr

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