Force Shrimpers to Equip Net With Turtle Protector Devices, Judge Urged

The National Wildlife Federation on Tuesday asked a federal judge to force the Commerce Department to require Gulf Coast shrimpers to equip their nets with turtle excluder devices.

The department’s temporary new regulations limiting trawl times do not protect endangered sea turtles as the department claims, the federation argued.

The federation said it has learned that Commerce Secretary Robert A. Mosbacher has data from National Marine Fisheries Service scientists that demonstrates the mortality rate from a 105-minute tow time is more than four times greater than what the secretary has admitted.

Mosbacher on Monday announced regulations requiring shrimpers to lift their nets every 105 minutes to let any captured turtles escape.

“A recent report from the team of scientists charged with managing recovery efforts for the severely endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle states unequivocally that the species is physiologically unable to withstand tow times in lieu of required (excluder) use,” the federation said in its petition to U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan.

Hogan is overseeing the federation’s legal attack on Mosbacher’s failure to require excluder devices.

Hogan last week ordered Mosbacher to adopt regulations by Monday to protect sea turtles from drowning in shrimpers’ nets.

A new federal law requires shrimpers to use excluder devices--big boxes attached to nets with hinged sides that turtles can swim through--unless the secretary of commerce has good reason to require other protective measures.

The trawling regulation is to last only until Sept. 7 while the department solicits comment on what permanent regulations to adopt “in light of conservation needs of sea turtle populations and the economics of the shrimp fishing industry.”