Friendlier Seas for Turtles
Efforts to Protect Leatherback Turtles along the Pacific Coast
A coalition of environmental groups attempt to persuade the U.S. federal government to declare the Leatherback Turtle's seasonal hunting grounds a critical habitat.
The Northern California coastline may soon be a safer hunting ground for the endangered Leatherback Turtle, environmentalists say – if they can hold local fishermen at bay.
A coalition of environmental groups petitioned the U.S. federal government on September 27 to designate the area as a critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act, because destructive fishing techniques are sending the turtle's population into a downward spiral.
“It's really the drift-gillnet and longline techniques that are the problem,” said Ben Enticknap from Oceana. He explained that the amount of line and rigging these techniques put in the water poses a major drowning hazard for the turtles, which are always on the move. The Leatherback's 6,000-mile migration spans the entire Pacific Ocean and allows only a brief stay along the U.S. Coastline in the summer and fall when they feed on native jellyfish.
"We know when and where Leatherbacks are along our coastlines,” Enticknap told Reuters, “and we know what the threats are to them while they are here. Designating this important area as critical habitat will ensure that no activities occur along our shores that would push these ancient and extraordinary animals further toward extinction."
Enticknap says although much of the northern Pacific coast is designated as a Pacific Leatherback Conservation Area, the National Marine Fisheries Service is considering re-opening it to longline fishing during the months when Leatherbacks are present. He said NMFS is willing to consider exemption permits, largely because the habitat isn't federally protected.
“It makes it a lot harder to justify giving permits when the habitat is recognized as a critical habitat for an endangered species,” said Karen Steele of the Turtle Island Restoration Network. Steele said drift-gillnet fishing is suspended during the Leatherbacks' visits to the pacific coast and that no longline permits have been issued, but the pressure remains.
Steele said a recent NMFS study showed there was virtually no economic benefit that might justify allowing drift-gillnet fishing during the restricted period and that other techniques, like trolling and harpooning, allow fisheries to catch tuna, swordfish and other species without posing a threat to migratory turtles.
The Leatherback Turtle's migratory habits make it averse to captivity, thus ruling out the possibility of successful captive breeding projects and increasing the importance of a protected habitat. Brendan Cummings, oceans program director at the Center for Biological Diversity said, "If Leatherbacks are to survive the coming decades, we must turn the waters off California and Oregon into a true sanctuary for these imperiled creatures. Designating critical habitat is a vital step toward that end."
