UNITED STATES SENATE
Washington, DC 20510
July 19, 2002
Dr. William Hogarth
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries
National Marine Fisheries Service
1315 East West Highway, Room 14555
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Dear Administrator Hogarth:
We are concerned about the National Marine Fisheries Service's (NMFS's) failure to finalize its TED rule. Although changes to the TED regulations have been under consideration since April 2000, the rule has not been finalized. We respectfully request that you address this situation.
Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) have been required for use by U.S. shrimp fishermen since 1990. Since 1994, however, scientists have identified the need for escape openings larger than those mandated by the existing regulations. About 4,000 turtles, including leatherbacks, large loggerhead and green turtles, are still captured annually in the TEDs shrimp nets. Many of these turtles drown. As a result, tens of thousands of sea turtles in the Southeast Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico have been lost in the last decade. In Florida, the majority of loggerheads found dead along the state's coasts from 1992-2000 were too large to escape the TEDs now in use.
Further evidence of the need for new TED regulations was brought into focus this May when a large number of sea turtle deaths coincided with the opening of shrimp fishing in federal waters off the coast of Georgia. Within a two-week period, 94 dead sea turtles were found washed up on the state's beaches, including nine egg-bearing females.
This stranding level was five times higher than average, forcing NMFS to impose its fourth emergency rule/closure (which are costly to the shrimp industry) since April of this year. If the final rule requiring shrimpers to install larger TEDs had been in place this tragedy could have been avoided.
Further, despite decades of intensive management on nesting beaches in Georgia, loggerhead nesting populations are not recovering. The state of Florida, which hosts the world's second largest loggerhead nesting assemblage, as well as smaller populations of green and leatherback turtles, has dedicated enormous energy and financial support to protecting sea turtle habitat. The continuing delay in promulgating the new regulations undermines these conservation efforts.
There is an evident and pressing need to improve current regulations to increase sea turtle protection. Please expedite the process of finalizing the larger TED rule without any delay in implementation.
Most respectfully,
Senator Max Cleland Senator Bob Graham
Senator Zell Miller Senator Bill Nelson
