Step By Step: Center for Biological Diversity presses forth

Well, let's see what the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has been up to lately.  This group, either working on its own or in consort with other like-minded groups, often takes a more combative or proactive approach to environmental issues by using the courts to prod government agencies to address some of the many conservation challenges we face.

Good News:

Following the settling of a lawsuit between CBD and it's fellow conservation groups versus the National Marine Fisheries Service, the government agency proposed a new rule for shallow water commercial fishermen, who harvest shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico, requiring them to use Turtle Excluder Devices, or TEDs, in their nets.  Essentially escape hatches for the turtles, TEDs have already been mandated for deeper water but this new rule is a first for shallow water.  The one drawback is that Congress is considering budget cuts that may stymie implementation and enforcement of the ruling.

The dwarf seahorse - at one inch, the smallest seahorse in the United States - is one step closer to mandated protection.  CBD had petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for greater protection under the Endangered Species Act and the NMFS has announced that the seahorse may indeed be in need of federal protection.  Living in the shallow seagrass beds in the Gulf of Mexico, the dwarf seahorses numbers have been declining, apparently due to harvesting from the aquarium trade and health damage to both the seahorse and its seagrass habitat from BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill.  

Snakes may not be your cup of tea, but their numbers have not been doing well. Yet only 58 of the approximately 1,400 species receive any federal protection.  The Eastern diamondback rattlesnake has been particularly hard hit as it has seen its natural habitat reduced to a small percentage of what it was several decades ago.  Following a petition drive by the CBD, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced a full review to consider whether the rattlesnake requires protection under the Endangered Species Act. 

There are dozens of other new challenges that CBD is getting involved in, from the Keystone Pipeline to Arctic oil drilling to saving woodpecker populations, and much more.  The Center for Biological Diversity's weapon of choice still is the pressure exerted by legal action.  It may be frustrating at times as their lawyers weave their way with the regulatory morass, but the result often can be concrete results.

Source & Photos: Center for Biological Diversity

Hawksbill Sea Turtles: endangered species discovered in Pacific mangroves

Sea turtles, collectively, are some of the most endangered animals in the sea, due to loss of habitat, illegal poaching for the turtles and their eggs, and as accidental bycatch. The hawksbill sea turtle is no exception and, in fact, is listed by the World Conservation Union as critically endangered and CITES prohibits the capture and trade of hawksbill trutles and any products derived from them.

However, such proclamations of status and prohibitions have not yet prompted the hawksbill turtle populations to recover. Even in the best of natural circumstances, sea turtle eggs and young hatchlings face formidable challenges that thins the population so just the hardiest, smartest, and luckiest survive.

Found throughout all oceans, primarily in warmer climates, hawksbill sea turtles often live among the corals reefs in the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific. By 2007, the eastern Pacific population of hawksbills were considered effectively wiped out. However, recent tracking studies lead by Conservation International has shown that the eastern Pacific variety of hawksbill may have found another habitat to call its home: saltwater mangroves.

The study, recently published in Biology Letters, reports, "New satellite tracking data on female hawksbills from several countries in the eastern Pacific revealed previously undocumented behaviour for adults of the species. In contrast to patterns of habitat use exhibited by their Caribbean and Indo-Pacific counterparts, eastern Pacific hawksbills generally occupied inshore estuaries, wherein they had strong associations with mangrove saltwater forests. The use of inshore habitats and affinities with mangrove saltwater forests presents a previously unknown life-history paradigm for adult hawksbill turtles and suggests a potentially unique evolutionary trajectory for the species."

It's not clear as to whether the hawksbill migrated from more open water environments to the mangroves - perhaps as a defense reaction to a declining habitat - or whether the eastern Pacific hawksbill had, by some evolutionary quirk eons ago, found the mangroves to be a suitable home along with coral reefs. But it does add one more reason for preserving mangrove ecosystems which are currently losing ground to coastal development and pollution.

Today, every species of sea turtle is threatened with extinction to one degree or another; as yet, none are in the clear. There are several organizations - Conservation International, PRETOMA, Turtle Island Restoration Network, and others - who are working to preserve and protect sea turtles and the environments within which they thrive.

Endangered Sea Turtles: bringing awareness through celebrity involvement

Having celebrities involved with conservation awareness campaigns or other related promotions has been around for some time. As with other important causes, celebrity endorsements can attract both attention and needed dollars for ecological issues and the organizations that address them. The challenge is in finding the right person to reach a particular audience and deliver a message that resonates.

At one end of the spectrum are the serious and dedicated celebrities who genuinely give considerable time and effort; people like Ted Danson or Leonard DiCaprio. From there it travels down a sliding scale of both gravitas and extended involvement. But not to be cynical of their participation; it's not necessarily a self-serving exercise on their part. There hasn't been shown a strong correlation between a celebrity's attachment to a cause and a marked increase in their box office draw or CD sales or television ratings. So, credit where credit is due for their commitment.

Oceana has been waging an ad campaign for sea turtle protection using some of today's celebrities that can connect with a younger audience. Not younger as in children, but more targeted to the "Post-Boomers" and "Gen X" crowd, the next generation in line to inherit the burden of addressing ecological issues. Here are two PSA (public service announcements) Oceana produced, one with actress Kate Walsh and one with comediennes Rachael Harris and Angela Kinsey. Each PSA has a different flavor or tone; each has a different level of information presented both in words and in images. Each is trying to connect with different audiences.

Kate Walsh Wants to Save Sea Turtles from Oceana on Vimeo.

Rachael Harris and Angela Kinsey want to 'Get Turtles Off the Hook' from Oceana on Vimeo.

Of course, the nagging question with all celebrity endorsements is whether they generate any real results on behalf of the cause or issue at hand. Do they simply generate additional funding for an organization? Does that equate into real action and quantifiable results? Having been involved in media communications for many years, I know that it is often difficult to establish a "cause and effect" with public awareness promotions. It's part calculated science and part art form.

There's no doubt that sea turtles - all species of which are threatened with extinction - need protection. But you must first start with broad public awareness which, in turn, can support organizations who, in turn, work with governments and businesses to initiate protective measures. To do that means connecting with the people - the young and the old, the silly and the serious, the knowledgeable and the ignorant - anyway you can.

See more of Oceana's sea turtle campaign at their website.

Green Sea Turtles: coastal foraging puts endangered turtle at risk

Perusing the other ocean conservation blogs, I came across an interesting post written by Jesse Senko, marine researcher and seafood consultant for the Blue Ocean Institute - an ocean conservation non-profit headed by Dr. Carl Safina. Jesse writes of the challenges faced by green sea turtles as they forage through coastal areas. While tagging of sea turtles has produced important data regarding their long distance movements, not much is known about their shorter coastal movements, which actually constitutes the greatest part of their activity.

Although protected by law in Baja, Mexico, the green sea turtles are subjected to lax enforcement and protection and many turtles are lost to poachers or drowning in fishing nets. The turtles' dilemma in Baja reminded me of the supposedly protected white sharks, the juveniles of which can often be found in local Baja fish markets.

Daily movements of green sea turtles

Large marine vertebrates, such as sea turtles, are particularly vulnerable to human impacts due to their long lifespans, late maturity, slow reproductive rates, and extended migrations. Like most large marine vertebrates, sea turtles play key ecological roles in their environment when they are abundant. Green sea turtles are especially important in coastal areas because their grazing behavior significantly reduces nutrient cycling times in seagrass pastures.

In Baja California, Mexico, green sea turtles are protected by law, but lack of enforcement, coupled with drowning in fishing nets and illegal poaching has led these turtles to the brink of extinction. The majority of green turtles that are killed in Baja California are juveniles inhabiting coastal foraging areas; thus, understanding their movements and habitat use in this environment is a priority for conservation efforts. Nevertheless, while researchers have tracked the long-term movements of mainly nesting sea turtles, there is very little known about the short-term movements of green turtles in coastal foraging areas. Understanding this aspect of their biology is particularly important because green turtles spend the majority of their lives in these environments where they come in direct contact with fishing nets and poachers who often sell their meat on the black market.

Above: Jesse Senko (author) holding a green turtle before it is released

Recently, a team of biological scientists set out to better understand green sea turtle fine scale daily movements in a coastal foraging area along the Pacific Ocean in Baja California, Mexico. They developed a novel tracking device to conduct their study. The tracking tag consisted of a buoy that housed a GPS logger to record turtle movements and a VHF transmitter to locate the tracking tag. The researchers tethered the buoy to six green sea turtles. They found that green turtles were active throughout 24-hour periods while moving large distances over surprisingly short time periods. “We were surprised to see how far some of the turtles moved over temporal scales as short as one or two days. We had some turtles that moved total distances as far as 29 kilometers (18 miles) and occupied areas as large as 1,575 hectares (6 square miles) in a single 24-hour period”, said Senko, the study’s lead author.

The researchers also found that turtles were active throughout day, night, and crepuscular (dawn and dusk) periods of activity. “These results indicate that turtles were active throughout 24-hour periods, and did not show preferences for certain periods of the diel cycle (one 24-hour period). Given our findings that turtles moved large distances over short time periods and were active throughout 24-hour periods, conservation strategies intended to protect this endangered species may ideally need to encompass the entire coastal foraging area rather than focus on a few high use zones”, added Senko.

Above: Tracking a turtle

The full study in Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology can be found online at: http://wallacejnichols.org/wallacejnichols/Research/Entries/2010/9/2_JEMBE__Movements_of_green_turtles_in_Baja_files/*Senko_JEMBE_2010.pdf

Leatherback Sea Trutles: NOAA proposes critical habitat along U.S. West Coast

Just a little over a week ago, I posted information about new regulations for longline fishing in Hawaii and Florida that would further imperil the loggerhead turtle. Several conservation groups were engaged in legal action with the National Marine Fisheries Service to get them to act on behalf of the endangered turtles by implementing required provisions of the Endangered Species Act.

In a more positive development, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has proposed designating 70,000 square miles along the U.S. west coast, from Northern Washington to Southern California, as critical habitat for another endangered sea turtle, the leatherback turtle.

This ruling would provide a measure of protection for these turtles when they come to forage after their long Pacific migration. Every summer and fall, leatherback turtles travel 12,000 miles - the longest migration of any marine reptile in the oceans today - from nesting grounds in Indonesia to the western U.S. coastline to feed on jellyfish, a favorite food source of many sea turtle species. And these are BIG sea turtles, reaching lengths of nine feet and weighing in at 1,200 pounds! But they are on the edge of extinction; according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, their numbers within the past 30 years have dropped by as much as 95 %, well below what many aquatic species can recover from.

There are two hiccups with NOAA's proposal, according to the conservation groups (The Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana, and the Turtle Island Restoration Network) who have been applying the pressure for this habitat designation. One, this is only a proposal, so there will be a public comment period open until March. You can expect opposition comments from the longline fishing industry, so if you would like to add you own voice in support, here is a link to NOAA's public response web site.

The second issue is that the proposal leaves out some key foraging areas and excludes fishing gear as a threat. This hearkens back to the same issue with Hawaii's and Florida's loggerhead turtles - the impact on their numbers from accidental catch by longlines.

“Today’s proposal marks the first step in making sure that these giant turtles have a safe and productive place to feed after their amazing swim across the entire Pacific Ocean,” said Andrea Treece, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, in an Oceana press release. “NOAA now needs to take the next step and improve its proposal by incorporating more of the species’ key habitat areas and addressing one of the worst threats to leatherback survival – entanglement in commercial fishing gear.”

Loggerhead Turtles: threatened by new Hawaii and Florida regs

The fate of sea turtles, particularly the loggerhead sea turtle, is once again at further risk - this time due to a loosening of U.S. regulations for the longline fisheries in Hawaii and Florida, fisheries that are in pursuit of swordfish and must deal with sea turtles (and many other unfortunate species) as accidental bycatch.

A suit was filed this week against the National Marine Fisheries Service by Earth Justice on behalf of The Center for Biological Diversity, Caribbean Conservation organizations, Defenders of Wildlife, Gulf Restoration Network, and Turtle Island Restoration Network. The suit states that while the Fisheries Service has filed reports that claim that the loggerhead sea turtles face extinction unless the numbers of commercially caught turtles are reduced, they have also proposed a change in longline regulations that would allow for more longlines - literally more hooks in the water - that would produce a three-fold increase in turtle bycatch. The loggerhead sea turtle is currently on the endangered species list, so these new regulations, obviously designed to increase the catch of swordfish, would seem to run counter to the intent of protection required by the Endangered Species Act.

The swordfish fisheries, particularly in Hawaii, have experienced closure at times in the past, even during the past U.S. administration, so it is particularly disheartening to see the influence of the commercial fishing industry on the new administration.

And then on top of it all, we're talking about increasing capacity for commercially-caught swordfish - a fish that currently provides in one 8 oz. fillet over 4 times the acceptable level of mercury for the week. That's a month's worth in one sitting. What crazy, fish-hugging radicals came up with those levels? The government's own Environmental Protection Agency. (Check out GotMercury.org.)

Read press release from Courthouse News Service.
If you would like to add your voice in protest to the new regs, click here.

Sea Turtles: many factors adding to their risk

All of the ocean's sea turtles exist today under some level of endangered or threatened status due to years of hunting in the past for their meat and shells. And though laws exist for their protection, they are still severely impacted by illegal poaching for their eggs and the turtles themselves, in addition to the number of turtles lost in commercial fishing nets.

Steps are being taken to protect sea turtles and ongoing research continues to investigate their living behaviors, but populations are still in critical decline and many species face an unknown future.

Here's some info on one particular species: the large, impressive Loggerhead Turtle.

According to a report by the National Marine Fisheries Service on the status of the loggerhead turtle which is listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, the turtle's worldwide population is still very much at risk of further declines. While a few areas in the world have shown some improvement at nesting beaches, most areas at at risk of further decline. In particular, the Northeast, Northwest and South Atlantic Ocean; the Mediterranean, and the North Indian Ocean.

Migratory patterns of loggerhead hatchlings are being studied as these migrations can be critical in determining risk exposure for turtles, in addition to finding correlations between nesting site and other more distant populations. Studies have shown that loggerhead turtles can travel great distances, making transoceanic migrations, possibly as far away as from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Hatchlings from South Pacific nesting sites, like Australia, have been recorded along the Peruvian coast, where no nesting sites exist.

It's not just poachers or natural predators that threaten eggs and hatchlings at nesting sites. When the subject of coastal development is brought up, many often think of construction that brings about pollution. While this is an issue, another coastal development action that threatens loggerhead and green turtles is "artificial beach nourishment." This a somewhat fancy term for beach re-shaping or just plain moving sand. Either to replace sand due to or to act as a deterrent to erosion, sand is moved in and beaches are reshaped. When this occurs in areas that are known turtle nesting sites, the re-sculpturing of the beach slope sometimes makes it difficult if not impossible for the female sea turtle to properly lay its eggs, particularly for the larger loggerhead turtle.

In addition to turtle conservation campaigns being initiated by major NGOs like Oceana, WildAid, and Ocean Conservancy , there are turtle specific organization, like the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, that are worth looking into.

Hawaii's Sea Turtles: increasing threat from longlines

The Sea Turtle Restoration Project (STRP) has been hard at work for many years getting government decision makers and commercial fishermen to take steps to protect the several species of sea turtles. They are currently concerned with proposed changes in federal regulations regarding turtle, false killer whales, and humpback whales in Hawaiian waters.

Apparently, commercial longline fisheries' desire to increase their take of dwindling swordfish stocks is the motivating force behind the changes. Potentially, the number of turtles that can legally be killed in the process of fishing could be tripled from the current limit of 17.

Longline fishing is controversial because the technique - miles of long fishing lines with hundreds of baited hooks attached along the lines - is very indiscriminate in what it catches, from sharks to sea birds, to turtles: a tremendous amount of bycatch that is tossed aside.

The National Marine Fisheries Service has not responded to issues regarding whale deaths from long lines (in addition to the loss of Pacific loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles). The STRP has filed a lawsuit to get the NMFS to respond in keeping with the Marine Mammals Protection Act.

To learn more about the turtle's predicament and what you can do, check out the Sea Turtle Restoration Project web site.

Sharks and Turtles: the yin-yang of government action

The Yin: Sharks

Over the past months I have mentioned the progress of HR 81, the Shark Conservation Act that requires sharks to be landed whole with fins attached. This will allow for better enforcement and monitoring of shark catches. Additionally, it indirectly imposes on captains to re-think the value of shark as a catch, once they are no longer allowed to fill their holds with only higher-priced fins. It's U.S. legislation that helps the U.S. to encourage other nations to be leaders in shark conservation.

"The Shark Conservation Act will improve existing laws that were originally intended to prevent shark finning. This legislation will also allow the U.S. to take action against countries whose shark finning restrictions are not as strenuous, labeling the U.S. as a continued international leader in shark conservation," says Beth Lowell, Oceana federal policy director.

The legislation died on the floor of the Senate last year, but was reintroduced by Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam) for this new session. Earlier this month it was passed by the House and has once again moved on to the Senate. This is the government moving in the right direction, so to ensure its final passage, take a moment and send an email or call the senator from your state. You can find contact information for your senator by clicking here.

The Yang: Sea Turtles

On the other hand, regarding the protection of sea turtles, particularly loggerhead and leatherback turtles in U.S. waters, the government - specifically the National Marine Fisheries Service - failed to respond to petitions filed to review their status as threatened or endangered species (many populations have dropped by as much as 80% through commercial fishing and/or loss of nesting habitats). Petitions must be reviewed within 12 months and as the NMFS failed to do this, they are in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

The Turtle Island Restoration Network, Center for Biological Diversity, and Oceana have filed petitions to sue - once again taking proactive measures to break the government's legacy of indifference and inaction left over from the prior administration.

"It's time for the Obama administration to overturn the Bush policies of hostility and disregard toward endangered marine species. We are asking for immediate action based on the best available science to determine their current endangered status and better protect them by creating designated critical habitat," said Todd Steiner, biologist and executive director of the Turtle Island Restoration Network.

What this all says is that government action is critical in protecting our natural resources, but it must be supported by diligence on the part of all of us, least specific issues fall through the cracks.

Loggerhead Turtles: proposal to protect them from bottom longlines in Gulf

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, a U.S. regional council established by the Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976, is considering a proposal to request that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issue an emergency rule prohibiting the use of bottom longlines at a depth of 50 fathoms or less. The primary purpose of the prohibition is to limit the negative impact on loggerhead turtles that are often caught in the nets as they drag across the bottom to catch snapper and grouper.

Loggerhead turtles are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Nearly 1,000 turtles were caught in this fishery in just 18 months - eight times the federally authorized level.

"Under the ESA, immediate changes in this fishery must be taken to protect loggerhead sea turtles," said Elizabeth Griffin, marine wildlife scientist at Oceana.

The emergency closure would last for five months while the NMFS pursues a permanent solution. The council is expected to make its final review and approval today. Read entire press release from Oceana.

Turtles and TED: Oceana pushes for broader regulations

Know about TED? No, I'm not talking about the think tank, Technology, Entertainment, Design, That's a group worth a visit but I'm referring to "Turtle Excluder Device" - it's an escape hatch for sea turtles caught in trawling nets. TEDs are required for all trawling fisheries in U.S. waters looking for shrimp. But that doesn't protect all of the turtles, and all six species found in U.S. waters are listed as endangered.

Once again, Oceana.org is on the case and is pushing for government action to extend the TED requirements to all trawling fisheries, not just shrimp. Life is tough enough on sea turtles from poaching and decimation of their nesting grounds through pollution and building development. Case in point:
"July 28 marked the 30th anniversary of the loggerhead sea turtle's addition to the Endangered Species Act. But not only have loggerhead populations failed to recover in the last three decades, they continue to decline. Disturbingly, loggerhead nesting in Florida has declined by 50 percent during the past 10 years." - Elizabeth Griffin, Oceana.org

Losing more sea turtles as injured or killed by-catch when there is an effective solution that will not have a major impact on the fisheries bottom line - well, that's just tragic. Check out how you can send a message to our government officials.

Coral Reef Alliance: video of declining reef habitat at Akumal

Kudos to the Coral Reef Alliance for posting a great video by Drew Wohl that highlights how coral reefs are impacted by man-made development. At Akumal, at the Yucatan Peninsula, expanding development is adversely affecting turtle breeding grounds and affecting the overall health of the reef due to sewage (whether treated or not) that causes an increase in algae and bacteria growth.



This is not a unique phenomenon. Supposedly processed sewage disposed at sea has been shown to have detrimental effects worldwide - from California to the Caribbean. The video the Coral Alliance posted is not all gloom and doom. It shows the benefits of marine protected areas, such as can be found in Cozumel, and how they can protect the health of the reef and, in so doing, support the tourist trade in a more environmentally sensible fashion.