Take Action - Keep Deadly Hooks Out of Proposed Leatherback Critical Habitat

THANK YOU!  More than 2,400 people signed the petition to create a permanent safe haven for leatherback sea turtles along the Pacific Coast ot the U. S. We are now waiting for a final determination from the U.S. Government. Keep spreading the word about leatherbacks as the need to protect them does not stop here! It is just one step in the long road to recovery for this vulnerable species. Sign up for email updates on our front page and watch our website and Facebook page for the latest!

PETITION CLOSED! Your voice is needed to gain long-term protections for important feeding and migrating waters for the endangered Pacific leatherback sea turtles along the West Coast of the U.S. Please take action by writing in support of critical habitat for leatherbacks by April 23.

In response to Turtle Island Restoration Network’s 2007 petition and 2009 lawsuit, NOAA has just announced its proposal to designate 70,600 square miles in areas offshore of California, Oregon, and Washington as critical habitat for the endangered leatherback sea turtle. The new protected areas for critically endangered sea turtles would set aside important jellyfish feeding areas and migratory routes as a safe haven from permanent ocean structures that inhibit migration, impact jellyfish populations the leatherback rely on, or contribute excess pollution. Read STRP's detailed press release on the critical habitat proposal.

Your public comments should strongly support this proposal, and call for additional improvements!

Keep fishing hooks out of turtle habitat!  Entanglement in commercial fishing gear in the swordfish and tuna fleets is a leading killer of leatherbacks, but the new critical habitat proposal fails to address commercial fishery practices. Commercial fishing lobbies are tirelessly proposing new threats to sea turtles, and yet the critical habit designation has no provisions to monitor the habitat for longline hooks or drift gillnets that could prevent leatherbacks from reaching jellyfish-rich coastal waters. NOAA concluded that the commercial fishing practices are not an “impediment to the passage of leatherbacks to and from their foraging areas” and that the presence of commercial fishing gear never “altered the habitat.” Countless sea creatures are entangled and killed each year as bycatch in fishing gear, including sea turtles, clear evidence that commercial fishing CAN and DOES alter the quality of the leatherback’s habitat. So in your comments, demand a ban of long-line fishing in leatherback critical habitat.

Expand and Protect Leatherback Habitat! The critical habitat designation should include all Pacific waters in the current Leatherback Conservation Area, but the NOAA proposal excludes some habitat because “the potential costs outweighed the benefits of critical habitat designation.” Expansion of the proposed critical habitat NOW to include ALL leatherback migration and foraging areas along U.S. shores will provide the greatest level of protection from extinction for this iconic sea turtle.

Other activities NOAA seeks comment on include the effects of non-point source pollutants and poor water quality, permanent installations of wind energy and natural gas projects, effects of ocean acidification, and commercial vessel traffic.

Please sign-on to our petition and send a handwritten letter, fax, or electronic submission by April 23.

^{PHOTO Credit of leatherback eating jellyfish: David Wimpfheimer/Calnaturalist.com}