MELINDA
DESLATTE, Associated Press 11/27/12-— New regulations that would have forced
shrimpers in the bays and marshes of the Gulf of Mexico to install devices on
their nets to save endangered sea turtles were scrapped Tuesday by federal
officials.
The National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it is withdrawing plans by
its fisheries service to require "turtle excluder devices"
for small fishing operations that trawl for shrimp in state waters.
NOAA
said data collected over the summer showed the devices — which are escape
hatches for sea turtles on nets — may not keep small turtles from being caught
in the shallower waters that would have been subject to the requirement.
"The
information we now have suggests the conservation benefit does not justify the
burden this rule would place on the industry. We need more research looking at
different options," Roy Crabtree, southeast regional administrator
for NOAA Fisheries, said in a statement.
The
rules had been set to take effect by spring. Gulf of Mexico shrimpers had said
the requirement could push them out of business. The change would have affected
2,600 fishermen, including an estimated 2,300 vessels in Louisiana.
Crabtree
said federal officials will continue their research to help prevent turtle
deaths.
"We're
not abandoning this issue. There's just more work that needs to be done to get
it right," he said.
A
spike in turtle deaths in the Gulf since 2010, environmental lawsuits,
the BP PLC oil spill and the endangered status of sea turtles have
spurred federal officials to look at stronger protections for vulnerable turtle
populations.
In
the past two years, more than 1,100 dead sea turtles have been found in
Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama waters. Federal scientists estimate about
28,000 sea turtles are caught each year in nets.
The Center
for Biological Diversity, a national conservation group that sought the
protections, criticized the decision to shelve the proposed federal rules,
saying further delay will cause unnecessary turtle deaths.
"The
agency's failure to protect these species is tragic. Despite its own claim that
the Fisheries Service is not abandoning its promise to protect sea turtles, it
is in fact maintaining the deadly status quo by failing to move forward with
any protective measures," said Jaclyn Lopez, a lawyer for the center.
Turtle
excluder devices have been required for larger shrimp vessels that work in federal
waters for more than two decades, according to NOAA, but not in state waters,
with shallower areas and smaller turtles.
Instead
of the devices, fishermen in state waters are supposed to lift their nets out
of the water every once in a while to help trapped turtles breathe and get out
of nets. NOAA officials said they've had trouble with low compliance and
difficulties in enforcement.
The
proposed rules targeted three common types of nets called skimmer trawls,
pusher-head trawls and wing net trawls. Other states that would have been
included in the rules, according to NOAA spokeswoman Allison Garrett, were
Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida.
Fishermen
have long resisted moves to force the turtle-saving gear on the fleet.
Shrimpers said there was little evidence that they were responsible for the
spike in sea turtle deaths and said the cost of the new rules could destroy the
industry.
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