NEW ORLEANS—Loggerhead turtles found along the West Coast are near extinction while those along East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico aren't in much worse shape than they were decades ago, and remain listed as threatened by federal wildlife agencies.
But both the East and West coasts will be studied for areas so essential to loggerhead sea turtles that new restrictions are needed to protect the huge nomadic reptiles, a fisheries official said Friday.
Such areas are likely on the East Coast, where loggerheads nest, but there might not be any in Southern California, where juveniles swim offshore, said Jim Lecky, director of the office of protected resources for the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The North Pacific population nests in Japan and migrates mainly to Mexico. What can be done to protect them in U.S. waters, such as requiring hooks less likely to snag turtles on the miles of line dropped to catch tuna and swordfish, is being done, Lecky said.
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