Monthly Archives

April 2016

California’s Driftnet Fishery: A Costly Toll on the State Economy

By Got Mercury?, Marine Mammals & Seabirds, Sea Turtles, Sharks

Turtle Island’s new report ‘The Economic Argument Against the California Driftnet Fishery’ outlines how the California driftnet fishery costs more to operate than the wealth that is created by the fishery. The just-released-report examines new data that shows the cost of regulating this dirty fishery would substantially decrease if the California swordfish fishery used more sustainable gear instead of mile-long driftnets.

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Slave Shrimp Reporters Win Pulitzer Prize

By Marine Mammals & Seabirds, Sea Turtles

The Associated Press was just awarded a Pulitzer Prize, given for excellence in journalism, for their coverage of severe labor abuses tied to the supply of seafood to the U.S. Their series of stories revealed that U.S. supermarkets and restaurants are selling shrimp that is peeled by slaves. The series also described some of the conditions these shrimp peelers endure, including emotional and physical abuse, being locked into the sheds where they work, and working 16 hour shifts with their hands in ice water.

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Dead Kemp’s Ridleys Washing Up on Texas Beaches

By Resources for the Media, Sea Turtles

Volunteers with Turtle Island patrolling the Upper Texas Coast for nesting sea turtles have been shocked to find dead sea turtles on the beach. The volunteers have found five dead endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles on their routes in Galveston and Surfside. The dead sea turtles bolster ongoing calls for increased actions to limit shrimp trawling and for the building of a sea turtle rehab hospital on the Upper Texas coast.

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