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Protect Pacific Sea Turtles - Halt the Hawaii Swordfish Expansion

Denounce the  U.S. decision to increase sea turtle deaths in Hawaii's swordfish fishery.

Tell President Obama and NOAA Chief Jane Lubchenco to reverse their decision to rem
ove all limits on deadly longline hooks that snare sea turtles. Sign the petion below or better yet, write a hand-written letter by snail mail and copy your Congressional representatives.

Claiming that sea turtles can survive hooking in the mouth, fins and flippers on longlines set by the Hawaii-based swordfish fleet, the U. S. government has issued new fishing regulations that took affect in January 2010 that will:
- Triple the number of Pacific loggerhead sea turtle caught on longlines every year
-  Remove all limits on the number of hooks to 4 million or more per year
- Allow near-extinct Pacific leatherback sea turtles to continue to be caught and killed in the fishery. Read more about the history of this wasteful, harmful fishery.

“I’m shocked that President Obama who is from Hawaii will allow more sea turtles to die in this wasteful fishery,” said Teri Shore, Program Director for Turtle Island Restoration Network, a non-profit that has been demanding better protections for sea turtles from industrial fisheries. “Every Pacific leatherback and loggerhead that we lose to a longline is a direct threat to the species’ survival and recovery from the brink of extinction.”

“The US government is going to allow even more sea turtles to be injured and killed to provide US consumers with swordfish, a product that is tainted with high levels of mercury. This is what we experienced and learned to expect from the Bush Administration, but we ‘hoped’ for something better from the Obama administration.  It appears the fishing industry is still callsing the shots when it comes to protecting oceans and human health,” said Todd Steiner, biologist and Executive Director of Turtle Island Restoration Network.

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Dear President Obama and NOAA Chief Lubchenco,

Please reverse your decision and immediately halt the expansion of the deadly Hawaii longline fishery for swordfish that will allow more sea turtles to be accidentally captured or killed.

The weakening of protections for sea turtles in the fishery contradicts findings from your own scientists at National Marine Fisheries Service earlier this year that Pacific loggerheads are at risk of extinction due in large part to capture in longline fisheries.

This action also conflicts with your own efforts to develop and craft a new National Ocean Policy that makes protecting our oceans and fisheries an immediate priority.

More than 50 percent of what’s caught in the Hawaii longline fishery is not swordfish, but sea turtles, humpback whales, false killer whales, seabirds and vulnerable fish species including sharks and big eye and yellow fin tuna.

A federal court previously closed the fishery down for four years due to excessive capture of sea turtles, but reopened in 2004 with requirements to use experimental circle hook technology and special bait that the government claimed would drastically reduce the injury and mortality of sea turtles.

However, even with the modified gear, the fishery was closed down early in March 2006. In an unprecedented but legally required action, the Western Pacific Fisheries Management Council requested the Secretary of Commerce to shut down the swordfish fishery before it exceeded its allowable "take" of critically endangered loggerhead sea turtles.

Fewer than 5,000 nesting western Pacific leatherbacks remain and only 1,500 North Pacific loggerheads still nest. Only about one in a thousand sea turtle hatchlings survive to the age of 30 years or more to return to their nesting beaches. With declines of more than 90 percent for these leatherbacks and 80 percent decline of the loggerheads, there is no scientific justification to increase the death toll for these species as they swim across the ocean.

President Obama, please reverse this terrible decision before the swordfish fleet, with its millions more longline hooks, makes an irreversible impact on sea turtles in USA waters offshore of your birthplace in Hawaii.
This petition is no longer active.
This petition has a goal of 10000 signatures
1-25 of 1284 signatures
Number Date Name Location
1284 Tue Sep 25 15:56:28 EDT 2012 Paul Hahn Los Angeles, CA These amazing creatures need our protection. Now.
1283 Fri Jun 01 17:06:57 EDT 2012 George Russell Honolulu, HI
1282 Fri Jun 01 17:06:15 EDT 2012 George Russell Honolulu, HI
1281 Wed May 30 08:04:08 EDT 2012 Thomas Davis Spring Lake, NC Here to make a stand.
1280 Sat Mar 03 22:55:23 EST 2012 Katrina Long Houston, TX
1279 Wed Aug 03 12:32:03 EDT 2011 Kazuma Martinez Baypoint , CA Millions go to Hawaii to see turtles and other great splendors of wildlife in Hawaii. Turtles are vegetarian, and they are not harming us humans. Please do something to protect them.
1278 Mon Jun 06 14:29:51 EDT 2011 Rachael Cohen CA
1277 Tue May 10 09:33:37 EDT 2011 Farah Arnowitz Old Bethpage, NY Farah Arnowitz
1276 Thu Dec 23 16:27:41 EST 2010 annie armstrong vallejo, CA
1275 Tue Nov 02 04:09:30 EDT 2010 Jessica Dolores Ewa Beach , HI
1274 Sun Aug 08 07:37:51 EDT 2010 James Curatolo Burdett, NY
1273 Mon Jul 12 14:19:49 EDT 2010 TYLAR-ANN BENDER CLAVET, SK
1272 Mon Jun 21 18:04:52 EDT 2010 amy kreimeier yorba linda, CA
1271 Thu May 27 16:14:45 EDT 2010 michelle pappa las vegas, NV Please help the sea turtles and other species as well! Please do not allow to be bullied by the fishing industry! Allow your children and ours to continue to see these animals in existence!
1270 Tue May 18 21:38:30 EDT 2010 Peter Reed Minneapolis, MN
1269 Fri May 14 20:42:11 EDT 2010 Derek Schmeh boulder, CO
1268 Thu May 13 11:07:58 EDT 2010 Ethan Golden
1267 Wed May 12 21:59:31 EDT 2010 Leyna Stemle Chesterfield , MO HELP THE SEA TURTLES GAIN BACK A SAFE HAVEN IN HAWAI'I!
1266 Fri Apr 30 11:52:17 EDT 2010 Erico Martins Brasilia, ot
1265 Thu Apr 29 17:52:30 EDT 2010 Christopher Pincetich Point Reyes Station, CA
1264 Sun Apr 18 15:56:45 EDT 2010 Anonymous Camden, ME
1263 Wed Apr 07 00:11:36 EDT 2010 Corinne Peace Paia, HI
1262 Tue Apr 06 15:39:38 EDT 2010 raquel da silva toronto, ON
1261 Fri Apr 02 10:40:54 EDT 2010 Monika Gosteli-Gyger Galmiz, ot
1260 Mon Mar 29 23:03:42 EDT 2010 Anne Bornholdt Port Townsend, WA
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Better yet, send a typed or handwritten letter to:

President Barack Obama, The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Phone:(202) 456-1111
Fax:(202) 456-2461

AND

Dr. Jane Lubchenco
Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
HCHB, Room 5810
1401 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20233




Sea Turtle Restoration Project • PO Box 370 • Forest Knolls, CA 94933, USA
Phone: +1 415 663 8590 • Fax: +1 415 663 9534 • info@seaturtles.org
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