Home > News > U.S. Government Sued Over Lack Of Turtle Protection

U.S. Government Sued Over Lack Of Turtle Protection

By Matt J. Weiss, June 1, 2009 @ 12:26 AM (EST)

The Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana and the Turtle Island Restoration Network filed a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service today over violations of the Endangered Species Act. Specifically, the Fisheries Service failed to meet the 12-month legal deadline for responding to three separate petitions focusing on two sea turtle species in U.S. waters off the East and West coasts.

“This is a classic example of the Fisheries Service dragging its feet,” said David Allison, senior campaign director at Oceana. “Sea turtles can’t continue to wait for these essential protections. More sea turtles will be caught and killed with each passing day, pushing them closer to extinction.”

Two of the three petitions focus on populations of loggerhead sea turtles in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The groups are urging the Fisheries Service to designate the North Pacific and western North Atlantic loggerheads as distinct population segments and to uplist their status from threatened to endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The petitions also call for increased protections in the loggerheads’ key nesting beaches and marine habitats.

Loggerhead sea turtles have declined by at least 80 percent in the North Pacific and could become functionally extinct by the mid-21st century if additional protections are not put into place. Florida beaches, thought to host the second-largest loggerhead nesting population in the world, have seen a decline in nesting of more than 40 percent in the past decade.

Comments

Be the first to add a comment to this article.

You must be logged in to comment.

Related Content