Saving Seafood

NOAA Asks for Help Locating Stranded Sea Turtles in New England

August 30, 2021 — Federal ocean managers are asking beachgoers in New England and elsewhere to keep an eye out for stranded turtles.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office said several species of sea turtle will still be in the area for a few months. Healthy sea turtles normally should not be out of the water in the region, the office said.

The office asked anyone who sees a turtle on the beach to report it. Species that could be spotted include loggerhead, leatherback, green and Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, the office said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at NBC Boston

See a Stranded or Entangled Turtle? Call the NOAA Hotline!

August 20, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Report stranded or entangled sea turtles so that network responders can help

Although summer is coming to an end, leatherback, loggerhead, green, and Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are still in our area for another few months.

Beached Turtles

Report any sea turtles you see on the beach. In most of the states in our region, healthy sea turtles should not be out of the water.

Report Distressed Turtles in the Water

When you are boating, report any distressed, entangled, or dead sea turtles in the water. Live turtles in need of medical assistance or wrapped up in rope or other debris need the help of the dedicated, trained responders in our stranding and disentanglement network. Your call will start a potentially life-saving response. Network members have training and experience to assess turtle health, provide medical care if necessary, and safely disentangle turtles. Turtles that are released with line still wrapped around their bodies may later die due to this entanglement. Well-meaning attempts to disentangle turtles without training and experience can put both the people and the turtle at risk.

Make the Call!

  • Call our stranding and entanglement hotline: 866-755-6622 (NOAA Hotline).
  • If out of cell phone range, call the Coast Guard on Channel 16.

Stand By Your Turtle!

After you report a turtle in distress, we need you to keep the animal in sight from a safe distance and wait for responders to arrive. Like any first responders, we need time to get on scene, so please keep an eye on the animal from a safe distance; responders will have a much easier time relocating the turtle with you at its side. Sea turtles are very strong, and a stressed animal can act unpredictably, so give them space.

The Sea Turtle Stranding and Disentanglement Network team includes animal care specialists, researchers, and veterinarians with years of experience disentangling and treating injuries to sea turtles. They will evaluate the animal and determine the best course of action.

Our network of dedicated, trained responders have years of experience in responding to sea turtles in distress. They need your help to stand by turtles without taking action. Just like waiting for an ambulance, please wait for the experienced responders to arrive to assess the turtle’s health and provide the care it needs. Standing by and guiding the responder to the turtle’s location are the two best things you can do to help the animal.

Find out more: Sea Turtle Disentanglement Network

Read the full release here

Turtles, Tourism, and Traffic – Keeping Hawaiʻi Honu Safe

August 13, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Sea turtles have long been a key part of the cultural and natural resource heritage of Hawaiʻi. Once sought for their meat, Hawaiian green sea turtles, or honu, suffered a sharp population decline from overharvest in the early 20th century. Today, honu in Hawaiʻi are making a comeback thanks to the support of dedicated community members, and state and federal protections. Increasing numbers of honu in Hawaiʻi mean there is more opportunity for observing them on beaches and in nearshore waters, and where their behavior can be predictable, honu have become a sought-after tourist attraction.

The convergence between turtles, tourists, and traffic can create challenges in areas where the infrastructure may not be sufficient to support large numbers of wildlife viewers. For instance, residents of the North Shore of Oʻahu have expressed concerns about traffic congestion near the popular turtle viewing beach of Laniākea. This situation is not unique to Oʻahu. Communities throughout the Hawaiian Islands are experiencing similar issues that require collaborative solutions.

As the Hawai‘i Department of Transportation works to address traffic and pedestrian safety issues at Laniākea, we at NOAA Fisheries continue to study the basking honu population and work collaboratively on the management and conservation of honu at this and other locations throughout the state.

Read the full release here

New Turtle Excluder Device Requirements for all Skimmer Trawl Vessels 40 Feet and Greater in Length Take Effect on August 1, 2021

July 15, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Key Message:

  • On August 1, 2021, a final rule goes into effect amending the definition of tow time and requiring the use of turtle excluder devices (TEDs) designed to exclude small sea turtles in the nets of skimmer trawlers 40 feet and greater in length in the Southeastern U.S. shrimp fisheries.
  • For the purposes of this rule, vessel length is the length specified on the vessel’s state registration or the U.S. Coast Guard vessel documentation required to be onboard the vessel while fishing; if there is a difference in documented vessel length, the lesser length will be used.
  • Beginning August 1, 2021, skimmer trawl vessels 40 feet and greater in length must have TEDs installed in any net that is rigged for fishing.

Additional Information:

New Protected Species Handling and Reporting Information for the Shrimp Trawl Fisheries

June 29, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Key Message:

In an effort to strengthen sea turtle conservation efforts, NOAA Fisheries has produced new outreach materials for the safe handling, release, and reporting for protected species incidentally captured by shrimp trawlers. The outreach placards for sea turtles, smalltooth sawfish, and giant manta ray are attached to this bulletin, and are also available on our website.

Any captured sea turtle in a comatose or lethargic state must be retained on board, handled, resuscitated, and released according to our established procedures, as deemed practicable and in consideration of best practices for safe vessel and fishing operations. Fishers are legally required to follow these procedures per regulations at 50 CFR 223.206(d)(1). The continued use of turtle excluder devices, in addition to the proper handling, resuscitation, and release of incidentally-captured sea turtles in the shrimp fisheries, are key reasons for the ongoing recovery of threatened and endangered sea turtle species.

Likewise, smalltooth sawfish and giant manta ray must be released in a manner that avoids further injury, to the maximum extent practicable.  Proper handling of any protected species incidentally caught during fishery operations is essential to increase the likelihood of its survival.

This bulletin serves as a Small Entity Compliance Guide, complying with section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996.

Read the full release here

Sea Turtle Week 2021

June 17, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Celebrate Sea Turtle Week with NOAA Fisheries! Sea turtles have been swimming in Earth’s oceans for hundreds of millions of years. These marine reptiles lead incredible lives, surviving for many decades at sea. They travel thousands of miles in search of food, eventually returning to the beaches where they were born to nest.

They are a key part of marine ecosystems worldwide, but they face many threats today. Six sea turtle species are found in U.S. waters and all are threatened or endangered. The largest among them—the Pacific leatherback—is critically endangered. Of all the species NOAA Fisheries protects under the Endangered Species Act, we consider the Pacific leatherback to be one of the nine species most at risk of extinction in the near future.

Explore turtle features and videos below. Stay tuned all week to learn how we conserve and protect sea turtles and how you can help too.

Read the full release here

8 Things You Might Not Know About Threatened & Endangered Species in the Pacific

May 24, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

It’s Endangered Species Day! This is a time to celebrate the threatened and endangered species in the Pacific Islands region and renew our dedication to protecting and conserving them! With that in mind, we’re bringing you some interesting—and perhaps surprising—facts about our protected species. We’re and sharing how you can help make sure they’re around for future generations to enjoy.

Here’s why we think the threatened and endangered species in the Pacific Islands region are some of the most interesting animals on the planet!

1. False killer whales like to share!

These closely bonded animals not only share their prey with one another, but they’ve also been known to approach human snorkelers and divers with offerings from their fresh catch.

False killer whales are the least abundant species of toothed whale in Hawai‘i. And of the three populations that live here, the main Hawaiian Islands insular population is listed as endangered with fewer than 200 individuals remaining. While encounters are rare, we encourage you to report sightings at the NOAA Marine Wildlife Hotline: (888) 256-9840.

Check out the 2020 field update from our partners at Cascadia Research Collective

2. Male hawksbill sea turtles spend their lives at sea and are rarely observed or tagged.

The hawksbill population of Hawaiʻi may be the most endangered turtle population in the world. There are fewer than 200 known adult female hawksbill sea turtles (honuʻea) in Hawaiʻi, but scientists don’t know how many males are out there. They suspect the number may be small because only around 20 percent of Hawaiʻi hawksbills that strand (are dead or injured) on the beach are male. What’s more, incubation temperature determines a hatchling’s sex: high temperatures produce females, suggesting fewer males will be born as global temperatures increase. Report all honu‘ea sightings to RespectWildlife@noaa.gov.

Learn to distinguish honu‘ea from the more common honu (green sea turtle) by their narrow heads and pointed beaks

Read the full release here

Feds raise protections for North Atlantic right whales, but sea turtles may suffer

May 17, 2021 — North Atlantic right whales have gained protections and sea turtles are more imperiled under a new federal calendar for harbor dredging that came to light May 14 in a federal lawsuit that seeks to protect sea turtles.

The entire calendar for dredging at some seaports along the East Coast has been modified in an effort to increase protections for North American right whales, according to a federal report with the new calendar. This species has been reduced to a population of some 360 animals.

The change allows harbors to be dredged in warmer months in North Carolina and continuing south through Georgia and Florida, to the islands of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Dredging is routine maintenance and typically involves vacuuming up debris that has filled a shipping channel and impedes ships as they use a port. The process has a history of harming certain sea life.

Read the full story at The Saporta Report

Steep decline in giant sea turtles seen off US West Coast

April 9, 2021 — Scientists were documenting stranded sea turtles on California’s beaches nearly 40 years ago when they noticed that leatherbacks — massive sea turtles that date to the time of the dinosaurs — were among those washing up on shore. It was strange because the nearest known population of the giants was several thousand miles away in the waters of Central and South America.

Their mysterious presence led researchers to a startling discovery. A subset of leatherbacks that hatches on beaches in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands were migrating 7,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean to the cold waters off the U.S. West Coast, where they gorged on jellyfish before swimming back. The epic journey stunned scientists.

“There are birds that go farther, but they fly. There’s a whale shark that might swim a little further, but it doesn’t have to come up for air. This animal is actually pushing water all the way across the Pacific Ocean,” said Scott Benson, an ecologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries service in Monterey, who has studied the turtles for decades. “It’s just a majestic animal.”

But now, just as scientists are beginning to fully understand the amazing odyssey, the turtles are disappearing — and fast.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Suit seeks to reverse Trump changes to sea turtle protection

April 7, 2021 — Conservation groups sued on Tuesday to reverse changes made under former President Donald Trump to rules protecting sea turtles, even though federal regulators said a week ago that they were reconsidering some of those changes.

The groups hope President Joe Biden’s administration will change the rules, but the possible revisions outlined recently may not go far enough, said Jaclyn Lopez of the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the three groups.

“We’re hopeful they will do something and do something soon, but we’re not going to sit back and wait,” she said. “This is decades in the making and our patience has run out.”

“We are aware of this filing and are reviewing it,” Allison Garrett, a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries service, said in an email.

The current rule would hurt five endangered and threatened sea turtle species, especially Kemp’s ridleys, the smallest and most endangered, the groups’ news release said. Kemp’s ridleys swim throughout the Gulf and along the Atlantic Coast to New England, nesting in Mexico and along the Texas coast.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News