Marine Animal Suit Aimed at More of Fleet

As the attorney for Earth Island Institute, I would like to clarify several issues raised in Michael Parrish’s article, “Suit Filed to Ban Shrimp Imports That Endanger Sea Turtles” (Feb. 25), on the lawsuit filed by Earth Island to require the Bush Administration to comply with U.S. sea turtle protection laws.

First, contrary to the representations of the State Department, the Administration has flatly interpreted the law to apply to only 14 Caribbean and Latin American countries, ignoring the fishing activities of approximately 80% of worldwide shrimping fleets.

And, although the law clearly required the Administration to take action by no later than May 1, 1991, to ensure that protective measures are used by all importing nations whose shrimping activities endanger sea turtles, the Administration has unilaterally extended the deadline by three years.

The purpose of Earth Island’s lawsuit is to force the Administration to apply the law to all importing nations whose shrimping activities result in the continued deaths of more than 100,000 sea turtles each year.

The refusal of the Administration to enforce the environmental protection laws is strikingly similar to the decade-long delay by the Reagan-Bush Administration in enforcing the Marine Mammal Protection Act to protect dolphins killed in tuna nets.

After decades of this slaughter, we now see the beginning of the end of a fishing practice that has killed more than 7 million dolphins over the past 30 years.

Despite the availability of inexpensive means to prevent their destruction, hundreds of thousands of sea turtles continue to die in shrimp nets. The population of many species of sea turtles is rapidly dwindling to unsustainable levels. We do not have the luxury of another 10 years.

The Administration will have squandered five years before it enforces the existing sea turtle protection laws against only a fraction of the affected shrimping fleets. We fear the action will come too late to preserve these ancient marine reptiles.

ELISABETH R. GUNTHER

San Francisco