Ocean Sentry
(From wciv.com) Nearly 800 sea turtles are captured each year in Mid-Atlantic trawl fishing nets. About a third of them die as a result. Oceana released those numbers Thursday in a push to change the laws and the trend.
Nurturing injured sea turtles back to life is a way of life for Kelly Thorvalson, Sea Turtle Rescue Coordinator for the SC Aquarium. “They”ve been here much, much longer than we have,” she says.
She”s thrilled that while they are here on the South Carolina coast, loggerheads don”t face a major threat from trawl fisheries. That”s because shrimp trawlers are required to use turtle excluder devices, or TED’s.
Magwood employee, Jerrod Sewell, explains how it works. “All the shrimp and fish come through this part of the net. When anything big comes through here, it hits the aluminum gate and bounces right off back into the ocean.”
The problem isn’t here. It’s when the turtles migrate and head north. They head right for fisheries that don’t require TED’s.
“It’s a death trap for them,” Thorvalson says.
Environmental organization Oceana is trying to raise awareness. They say the solution is to require TED’s on all trawlers, make sure they work, and have seasonal closures in areas where turtles are abundant.
Thorvalson says if change doesn’t happen soon, an endangered species may disappear altogether, something that’s part of a much bigger picture.
“If we are driving sea turtles to extinction, then we are causing a lot more harm and we are certainly going to feel the effects at some point,” Thorvalson says.
More than 7,000 people signed a petition and sent it to President Bush this week asking for better protection for sea turtles.
