Save Atlantic Loggerheads from Deadly Trawl Fisheries

Deadly Atlantic trawl fisheries continue to assault loggerhead sea turtles struggling to recover from the horrific BP oil spill. Powerful opposition from the industrial fisheries are delaying federal actions to reduce deadly bycatch, resulting in more dead sea turtles.
 
Loggerhead Nesting Declined 40 Percent in Florida
 
Sea turtle populations are best measured by the success of nesting females. Loggerhead nesting recently declined by 40 percent from 1998-2009 at the largest nesting area in the Atlantic region, Florida beaches.  Scientists agree that this population is struggling to recover and must have increased protections from fisheries to rebound.
 
Shrimp Trawls Continue to Kill Thousands of Sea Turtles
 
Fisheries bycatch is the primary cause of the declines in sea turtle populations around the globe. New data released by NMFS estimates 5,365 sea turtles were killed in 2009 by South East Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico shrimpers and at least 778 of these were Atlantic loggerheads. This data is a fraction of the true number as it excludes skimmer trawls, which are not required to use Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) on their trawl nets. Click here for details and a graph of the bycatch data.
 
Send the letter to NMFS below before April 11, 2011.