Forest Knolls, CA — The nonprofit Sea Turtle Restoration Project has released the new documentary, Last Journey for the Leatherback? by the Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker Stan Minasian (dir. The Last Days of the Dolphins?, The Free Willy Story: Keiko’s Journey Home). The documentary will be screened during the Northeast Environmental Conference on Friday, October 15, 2004 at 9:30 pm in Alfred Lerner Hall of Columbia University, New York City.
Facing Extinction: Endangered Sea Turtles – Can They be Saved? Free lecture by Local Sea Turtle Activist Robert Ovetz Pacifica, CA –September 22, 2004 – The American Cetacean Society San…
San Francisco, CA – This week, new data was released by the Sea Turtle Restoration Project that shows skyrocketing mercury levels in swordfish purchased at grocery stores in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Orange, Sonoma and Marin counties. Stores in California and around the country continue to sell mercury-contaminated fish despite continued state and federal warnings that swordfish contains unsafe levels of mercury. Mercury levels in tested fish were measured in excess of 4 parts per million, more than 400% of the FDA’s action level. Environmental groups are calling on grocers and restaurants to stop selling swordfish to the public immediately.
New rules that have reopened US waters to longline fishing for swordfish and tuna have been corrupted by faulty science and political influence, says a new study released today by the Sea Turtle Restoration Project. The report, Techno-Fixing Sea Turtles: How the Bush Administration’s Manipulation of Science is Driving the Leatherback Sea Turtle Towards Extinction, documents how an admittedly flawed and incomplete report by government scientists has provided the basis to reopen the hotly contested fisheries which have been closed as a result of recent lawsuits by the Sea Turtle Restoration Project and other conservation groups.
Commission Responds to Public Comments that More Action to Save Sea Turtles are Needed Forest Knolls, CA — The US Commission on Ocean Policy, “An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st…
August 27, 2004- A giant Pacific leatherback was seen six miles off the coast of Bolinas (Marin County) on a whale watching tour sponsored by the San Francisco Bay Whale Watching, out of Sausalito.
It was feeding on a stinging jellyfish of the genus Chrysaora, known commonly as a sea nettle
Honolulu, HI–Today, Turtle Island Restoration Network , the Center for Biological Diversity, an d Ka `Iwa Kua Lele, represented by Earthjustice, filed suit in federal district court in Hawai`i against the National Marine Fisheries Service (“NMFS”) for reopening the Hawai`i-based longline swordfish fishery in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (“MBTA”), Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), and National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”). The fishery will cause the deaths of black-footed albatross and Laysan albatross, both protected by the MBTA, and endangered sea turtles protected by the ESA, and was reopened without a proper Environmental Impact Statement, in violation of NEPA.
Change Comes After Pressure from Lawsuit
Honolulu, HI – Today, the National Marines Fisheries Service (“NMFS”) finally acknowledged the devastating toll that the Hawai‘i-based longline fishing fleet inflicts on the Hawai‘i population of false killer whales, formally classifying the longline fleet as “Category I” in the List of Fisheries for 2004, a designation reserved for fisheries that annually kill and seriously injure marine mammals at unsustainable rates. In November 2003, Turtle Island Restoration Network, along with the Center for Biological Diversity and the Hawai‘i community group Hui Mälama i Koholäand, represented by the Earthjustice law firm filed suit on behalf to force NMFS to increase protection for the whale by making such a reclassification, as mandated by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (“MMPA”).
The Sea Turtle Restoration Project presents the first Bay Area screening of our powerful new video Last Journey for the Leatherback? and a chance to meet award-winning director Stan Minasian and renowned – and inspirational – oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle at an intimate reception before the showing.
