|
Loggerhead sea turtles make some of the longest known journeys of any sea turtle species. Adapted for these lengthy migrations, North Pacific loggerheads have a small shell and an enlarged flipper. Each year they migrate more than 7,500 miles between nesting beaches in Japan and feeding grounds off the coast of Mexico. Along the way, they must navigate past millions of the longline hooks set in the world’s oceans.
ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE
PROTECTION STATUS: Threatened
YEAR PLACED ON LIST: 1978
CRITICAL HABITAT: None
RECOVERY PLAN: 1991; Pacific population 1998
RANGE: Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans
THREATS: Entanglement in fishing nets, coastal development, global warming, beachfront lighting, increased nest predation, pesticides, collisions with watercraft, oil and gas exploration, and human consumption
POPULATION TREND: Pacific populations of loggerhead sea turtles have declined by more than 80 percent in the last 25 years, with fewer than 1,000 females returning to their natal beaches to nest each year. Atlantic and Indian ocean populations are also declining.
|
SAVING THE loggerhead sea turtle
Ocean-borne longline fishing vessels targeting swordfish and tuna deploy thousands of baited hooks on lines that can extend for more than 60 miles. These hooks catch and kill not just swordfish and tuna but thousands of sea turtles, seabirds, marine mammals, and sharks. Gillnet fisheries likewise entangle and drown many of these species, including the loggerhead.
The Center has repeatedly initiated litigation to curtail commercial fishing practices off the West and East coasts of the U.S. and in Hawaii. Following one successful lawsuit, longline fishing for swordfish was prohibited along the West Coast. However, once we get relief for the besieged turtles in one location, the National Marine Fisheries Service proposes to reopen these destructive fisheries elsewhere. It has been a shell game, but we will persist until turtles are no longer drowning in commercial fishing gear.
While loggerhead sea turtles are threatened throughout their range, they are particularly imperiled in the North Pacific Ocean. The turtles there are geographically isolated and genetically distinct from loggerheads in the Atlantic, Indian, and South Pacific oceans. We filed a citizen petition to list North Pacific loggerhead sea turtles as endangered with the hope of protecting critical habitat in the not-so-distant future.
ACTION TIMELINE
+ CAMPAIGN LINKS
NATURAL HISTORY
+ MEDIA
Contact: Brendan Cummings
|
WilliamFlaxington.jpg)