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Shrimpers demand action on turtle conservation standards

September 3, 2024 — The Port Arthur Area Shrimpers’ Association (“PAASA”) and the Southern Shrimp Alliance jointly requested that the U.S. Department of State (“State Department”) re-visit and suspend the certifications granted to Peru and Guatemala under Section 609 of Public Law 101-162.

Based on a law enacted in 1989, the Section 609 program is intended to ensure that shrimp harvested in a manner that harms endangered sea turtles is not imported into the United States. Under the program, the State Department, working with officials from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“NOAA”) Fisheries, certifies countries and/or individual fisheries as being in compliance with Section 609’s requirements and therefore eligible to supply the U.S. market with shrimp.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Gulf of Maine sea turtle could come off ‘endangered’ list

January 18, 2018 — Federal ocean managers say it might be time to move the East Coast population of the world’s largest turtle from the United States’ list of endangered animals.

An arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has received a petition from a fishing group asking that the Northwest Atlantic Ocean’s leatherback sea turtles be listed as “threatened” but not endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The giant reptiles, which can weigh 2,000 pounds, would remain protected under federal law, but their status would be changed to reflect some improvement in the overall health of their population.

According to the Sea Turtle Conservancy, the number of nesting leatherback females worldwide is between 34,000 and 36,000.

NOAA officials have said the agency has reviewed the petition from New Jersey-based Blue Water Fishermen’s Association and found “substantial scientific and commercial information” that the status upgrade may be warranted. The agency now has about eight months to make a decision about the status of the turtles.

Leatherbacks live all over the world’s oceans and have been listed as endangered by the U.S. since 1970. They can be seen regularly during the summer in the Gulf of Maine, where they feed on a variety of jellyfish and occasionally get tangled in fishing lines.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

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