It is with a heavy heart that I report that Jack Woody, one of the original Board members of Turtle Island passed April 28, 2016. He was 83.
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The Royal Dutch Shell spewed 88,200 gallons into the sensitive marine habitat of the Gulf of Mexico and caused a visible 2 x 13 mile “sheen” to be seen off the coast of Louisiana.
Over 250 scientists released a joint scientific letter opposing the deadly California driftnet fishery for swordfish, which has some of the highest bycatch rates in the world. The letter, coordinated by Turtle Island Restoration Network, specifically requests that immediate action be taken to phase out the fishery and protect the ecological integrity of California’s coastal waters.
More than 30 environmental, ocean, conservation, and activist organizations representing over 1 million members signed on to a joint letter today led by Turtle Island Restoration Network calling on California Senators and Assemblymembers to support Senate Bill 1114. This bill would end the most harmful fishing practice on the West Coast by reducing the number of damaging driftnets off the California coast by phasing out remaining driftnet fishing permits and transitioning to more sustainable deep-set buoy gear.
6,757 volunteers showed up at 27 locations to remove 110,663 pounds of trash from 151 miles of Texas coastline.
Six years ago the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico impacting endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles. Volunteers with Turtle Island patrolling the coast for nesting sea turtles have recently been shocked to find dead sea turtles on the beach.
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.
Turtle Island ’s new report ‘California Driftnet Fishery: The True Costs of a 20th Century Fishery in the 21st Century – Sea Turtle Impacts’ outlines how the California driftnet fishery for swordfish is among the most harmful fisheries in the U.S. to endangered sea turtles.
Today, the Lieutenant Governor of California Gavin Newsom and Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) penned a thoughtful op-ed in the Sacramento Bee calling on fisheries managers to phase out deadly driftnets.