FWS, NMFS To Push For Endangered Status For Loggerhead Turtles

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WASHINGTON, DC, March 10, 2010 (ENS) - Loggerhead sea turtles have been classed as threatened on the U.S. Endangered Species List for more than 30 years, but today two federal government agencies proposed to list several populations of the migratory turtles as endangered.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service issued a proposed rule that would designate nine distinct population segments of loggerheads around the world and list seven as endangered and two as threatened. The rule would change the status of U.S. North Pacific and Northwest Atlantic loggerhead sea turtles from threatened to endangered. A 2009 status review of loggerhead sea turtles worldwide by the National Marine Fisheries Service found both populations "currently at risk of extinction."

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Loggerheads face numerous threats onshore where they nest and at sea, but accidental capture, injury and death in commercial fisheries is perhaps the greatest peril to their survival today. "Overwhelming evidence points to accidental capture in fishing lines, hooks, nets and dredges as the main culprit in these declines," says Godfrey. "International fleets capture, injure and kill tens of thousands of loggerheads on the high seas every year. In U.S. waters, National Marine Fisheries Service has allowed our fisheries to kill thousands of large and small loggerheads rather than adequately regulate fishing."

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Godfrey says that in January, concern about the species was elevated when loggerheads were "ominously absent" among sea turtles rescued from record cold waters in Florida. Over 4,000 juvenile sea turtles were affected by prolonged freezing temperatures. "Unlike previous cold-stun events, when a near even mix of green turtles and loggerheads were impacted, almost all of the turtles found this year were green turtles," Godfrey said. "The absence of loggerheads among the massive number of turtles rescued raises concerns that juvenile loggerheads, as well as nesting adults, are in decline."

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http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2010/2010-03-10-094.html