Trade Sanctions Sought to Stop Mass Killing of Sea Turtles in Mexican Fisheries
Trade Sanctions Sought to Stop Mass Killing of Sea Turtles in Mexican Fisheries
Thousands of Endangered Loggerhead Sea Turtles Killed Yearly in Baja California Sur Bycatch Hotspot
WASHINGTON - April 30 - U.S. conservation groups formally requested trade sanctions against Mexico today to stop the country’s massive loggerhead sea turtle bycatch. Each year Mexican fisheries off the southern Baja California peninsula kill more than 2,000 endangered loggerheads as they fish for halibut and sharks. Today’s petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Turtle Island Restoration Network initiates a legal process that may ban some Mexican imports until Mexico reduces its sea turtle mortality.
“Loggerhead sea turtles are in danger of going extinct, but Mexico’s government is letting its fishermen entangle, hook and kill thousands of these amazing animals each year,” said Sarah Uhlemann, a senior attorney with the Center. “Mexico needs to use common-sense measures to prevent these thousands of unnecessary deaths. We need action on both sides of the border to avoid extinction.”
For nearly a decade, scientists have documented high levels of sea turtle entanglement and strandings on beaches in Baja California Sur. The area is considered a bycatch “hotspot,” as Mexican fisheries overlap with key sea turtle feeding grounds. Just last summer, sea turtle strandings reached a record high when 483 loggerhead sea turtles were found dead along a single, 25-mile stretch of coast — a 600 percent increase over already-alarming average rates. Scientists believe Baja California Sur has the highest concentration of sea turtle strandings anywhere in the world.
“The Pacific loggerheads are going extinct now, so we must end these sea turtle drownings now,” said Teri Shore, program director at Turtle Island Restoration Network (SeaTurtles.org). “Any delay in halting excess bycatch in Mexico's fisheries spells doom for these vulnerable and long-lived sea turtles.”
More:
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2013/04/30-0
