WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2011 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Last Friday, in a dramatic reversal of course, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced its decision not to declare loggerhead sea turtles along the U.S. East and Gulf coasts to be "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act.
As a result, these most abundant of all sea turtles will continue to receive protection as a "threatened" species – a lower level of caution consistent with their growing status – without imperiling much needed jobs in America's fishing industry.
The Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF) had strenuously opposed NMFS' proposed rule to uplist the NW Atlantic population of loggerhead turtles to endangered. FSF submitted extensive comments–including a leading scientist's critique of the underlying loggerhead population assessment, legal analysis, and information derived in part from the association-supported sea turtle research–all of which NMFS relied on in reversing course.
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