Sea Turtles Deaths Mount in Texas
by Teri Shore
Sea Turtle Restoration Project

The WTO ruling against sea turtle protections sends a message to the world's shrimp fleets that shrimp sales are more important than sea turtles. Drownings of endangered sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico - the primary US shrimp fishery - are now escalating to new highs. Renegade shrimpers are now free to routinely sacrifice endangered sea turtles so Americans can eat cheaper shrimp.

In March alone, 56 dead sea turtles littered the coast, half of them along Padre Island National Seashore. This is five times higher than last March's toll. By the end of the shrimping season on May 15, 193 dead or injured sea turtles had washed ashore. Of these, 80 were Kemp's Ridleys and 80 were loggerheads.

Biologists estimate that the sea turtles that wash ashore may represent only a fifth of actual deaths. Many adult females become entangled in shrimp nets and never made it to their nesting beaches. Dozens of Kemp's ridleys were found with heads and flippers cut off - evidence of mutilation by shrimpers.

The deaths and mutilations have prompted sea turtle activists to demand the closure of South Texas coastal waters to shrimping. Earth Island Institute's Sea Turtle Restoration Project (STRP), the Humane Society of the US (HSUS) and a coalition of Texas-based groups, are demanding that state and federal officials take immediate action to halt the slaughter.

After sea turtle activists sounded the alert, a Texas shrimper was arrested at sea with his vessel's TEDs tied shut. The ship's 1,000-pound catch of shrimp was confiscated by the Coast Guard.

"We must not allow 1998 to be another year when the government turns its back on the slaughter of sea turtles," said Carole Allen of Help Endangered Animals - Ridley Turtles (HEART). "These high stranding numbers so early in the shrimping season mean that it's just going to get worse."

"If National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) fails to take definitive corrective action this year, the HSUS and other organizations will bring suit," warned Dr. John W. Grandy, HSUS senior vice president for Wildlife and Habitat Protection.

Federal wildlife agents, state officials and shrimp industry continue to deny any connection between shrimping and sea turtle deaths. An Interior Department report released in February documented the link between shrimping and sea turtle deaths. It also showed that the number of strandings dropped significantly with the end of the annual Texas shrimping season. The report also showed that Kemp's ridley nestings at Padre Island last year may have been reduced by half due to shrimping.

US shrimping industry and Texas wildlife officials have suggested that fishers in Mexican waters may be to blame for the dead turtles found on the Texas coast but Mexico long ago halted fishing along the Kemp's ridley's primary Mexican nesting beach.

Creating a marine reserve in the waters at Padre Island National Seashore would be a first step to stopping the carnage. The proposed protected area would include 65 miles of the seashore out to 50 meters depth - about 20 nautical miles offshore. This also would protect other marine life, including shrimp and red snapper.

"We are asking both the federal government and the state of Texas to take a bold step in protecting this public resource for the health of the rich Gulf of Mexico ecosystem," said STRP Director Todd Steiner. "As 1998 has been declared to be the Year of the Ocean, now is the time to take action to save the lives of hundreds of endangered sea turtles."

Rewards totaling $50,000 (raised by a coalition including the HSUS, NMFS and the Texas Shrimp Association) have been posted to find the outlaw shrimpers responsible for killing the sea turtles. No one has yet been arrested.

What You Can Do: Send messages making the following points to the officials listed below.
(1) Establish a marine sanctuary along the Padre Island National Sea Shore.
(2) Enforce the ESA and the use of TEDs year-round.
(3) Assign Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wardens to assist the Coast Guard and National Marine Fisheries Service. Close state waters to shrimping in areas where sea turtles nest and visit.

Governor George W. Bush
State Capitol, Room 2S.1
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 463-2000
Fax: (512) 463-1849

Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt
Department of the Interior, 1849
Street NW, Washington, DC 20002
Fax: (202) 208-5048.

For more information, contact STRP, Earth Island Institute, (415) 488-0370, turtlesafe@earthisland.org or contact Carole Allen at HEART (281) 444- 6204, heartallen@aol.com.