Guest Column
Is The Tide Turning For Sea Turtle Protections In California?
By Karen Steele
Endangered sea turtles. These graceful creatures
have long fascinated people and for years the United States has played a
lead role globally in their protection.
But the tide could be turning. The government is now seemingly more
interested in rolling back conservation measures than protecting the last of
the sea turtles, particularly along the California coast.
At a time when all seven species of sea turtles are considered endangered,
and the Pacific leatherback sea turtle - over 100 million years old - is on
the verge of extinction, decisive action is needed to protect these species.
And this has been the role that the United States once played.
They led the way in the early 1990’s by developing and implementing Turtle
Excluder Devices for shrimp trawlers that provide sea turtles an escape
hatch from shrimp nets. This saved their lives by the thousands and 20
other countries soon followed suit.
In 1999, a role-model conservation effort was implemented when the Hawaii
swordfish longline fishery was closed to protect endangered sea turtles.
In 2001 these efforts turned to focus on protecting Leatherbacks that visit
California waters. A Leatherback Conservation Area was declared to protect a
critical habitat area for leatherback sea turtles that are found along the
California-Oregon coast.
This protection banned drift gillnet fishing, which has a high rate of sea
turtle capture, from Monterey Bay to the mid-Oregon coast between August to
November each year while leatherbacks are visiting to feed almost entirely
on jellyfish.
As these turtles are critically endangered and have traveled across the
entire Pacific ocean (over 6000 miles) from Indonesia to the California
coast, it seems they have earned the right to be provided this basic
protection.
Finally, in 2004, the US West Coast within 200 miles from shore was closed
to longline fishing in a further effort to protect endangered sea turtles.
Recently, however, the tide seems to be changing – at the least the West
Coast tide - for sea turtles in California, and not for the best.
Attempts are being made to rollback the Leatherback Conservation Area. This
is despite the area being closed precisely because it was found the survival
of the Pacific leatherback sea turtle would be placed in jeopardy otherwise.
Nothing has changed – the same boats using the same nets will be fishing in
the same area and the leatherbacks are now in even further decline. This
decision is to be announced mid-September.
In 2004 the Hawaii swordfish longline fishery was reopened, with the claim
new hook technologies would solve the problem of sea turtle capture. This
was short-lived with the fishery being shut down prematurely due to its high
capture of endangered sea turtles.
Though it seems little was learned from this experience. There are now plans
in progress to spend federal dollars to test the exact same hooks on the
California coast. This would be overriding a historical state law that has
banned longline fishing in California waters for over a decade.
The question we should be asking at this time, when the Pacific leatherback
sea turtle is at historically low levels – as little as 2,300 nesting
females left from over 90,000 just two decades ago - is whether the United
States wants to be celebrated for its efforts to help bring this species
back from the brink, or be seen as contributing to its decline.
Lets keep the tide turning good by keeping these role model protections in
place!
_________________________________________
Karen Steele is the Save the Leatherback Campaign Coordinator for the Sea
Turtle Restoration Project based in Forest Knolls, Marin County, California,
PO Box 400, Forest Knolls, CA 94933 -- 415-488-0370, ext. 106
karen@seaturltes.org
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed by HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com) without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.)