Turtle Island and conservation groups called out the National Marine Fisheries Service today for failing to implement the legally-mandated closure of the drift gillnet fishery in Southern California waters to protect endangered loggerhead sea turtles. El Niño conditions — warmer than normal waters — attract endangered loggerhead sea turtles to fishing grounds, where they risk entanglement in nets.
YES, I mean the Official Sea Turtle of the State of Texas! Their future is uncertain if the federal government continues to push them toward extinction! In 1985, the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, often called the “Heartbreak Turtle,” was very close to extinction with only a few hundred females nesting on the northeast Gulf coast of Mexico and in Texas. Unwilling to allow this small sea turtle to join the Passenger Pigeon, the Carolina Parakeet and many other species in extinction, the United States began working to save it.
Dear Assistant Administrator Sobeck and Regional Administrator Stelle: Our organizations are writing to request immediate compliance with non-discretionary regulations governing the California Drift Gillnet Fishery. Current regulations prohibit fishing with…
