April 15, 2014 — International conservation group Oceana is pressing Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal to reverse a state law that threatens thousands of sea turtles every year off the Louisiana coast.
Oceana sent a letter to the governor this week, in time for the 34th annual International Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation, held this year in New Orleans.
U.S. federal law requires shrimp trawlers to use Turtle Excluder Devices, which create an opening in trawl nets to allow trapped turtles to escape, but Louisiana state law refuses to enforce the federal regulation. Louisiana, according to Oceana, is the only state in America that does this, and Louisiana is a major player in the shrimp trawl fishery in the southern United States.
“This technology is required by federal regulations because it has been scientifically proven to reduce sea turtle deaths, does not reduce shrimp yield, and has even been shown to improve the quality of the catch,” Oceana advocates wrote.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource.com