GLOUCESTER DAILY TIMES (Massachusetts) 03 November 10 Enviro group chastises NOAA on turtle data (Richard Gaines)
The environmental group Oceana has accused the federal government of wrongly loosening protection and authorizing the killing of loggerhead turtles, a species that is considered "threatened" under the terms of the Endangered Species Act.
Oceana drew its conclusion from the announcement last month by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that eight fishery management plans — including the one for New England groundfishing — were "likely to adversely effect, but not jeopardize" four endangered species of whales and four species of turtles, including the loggerhead.
NOAA refuted the claim and accused Oceana of "mischaracterizing" the findings in required reports on the impacts of fishery management programs on endangered or threatened species.
Oceana also accused NOAA of avoiding more worrisome findings that would have compelled the government to add elements to the fishery management programs to minimize the loss of life of endangered or threatened species.
"Oceana is outraged by the government's decision to increase the authorized catch of threatened loggerhead sea turtles in the Atlantic by more than 14 times," said David Allison, Oceana's senior campaign director.
"The number of loggerhead sea turtles that can be legally caught by these eight Mid-Atlantic and New England fisheries jumped from 42 to 610," he said. "The government once again reviewed each of these fisheries in a vacuum, ignoring the impacts of other fisheries and activities that interact with sea turtles. The government needs to look at the cumulative impacts of all fisheries on sea turtle populations to adequately assess whether commercial fishing has a negative impact on these at risk species.
Terri Frade, chief of research communications for the New England Fishery Science Center at Woods Hole, countered that Oceana was confusing the government's estimate on the effect of the fishery management programs with authorizations.
"NOAA does not set 'catch limits' for sea turtles," she said. "Oceana is mischaracterizing a much-improved estimate of the number of incidental takes of loggerheads in these fisheries as an increase in allowable takes.
"In prior opinions, she continued, "we could only report and evaluate the effects of loggerhead takes incidental to fisheries that were actually observed and documented — 42, as Oceana says."
"In the newer opinions, we do so for what we estimate to be total takes — 610 — including those directly observed," Frade said. "Oceana does not mention in their release that the directly observed takes were also acknowledged to be well under the likely take, and that the new estimates provide a better picture of actual takes.
"We've also concluded that these estimated total takes, along with the effects of other factors we evaluated, are not likely to result in an appreciable reduction in survival and recovery for the listed species whether considered separately by fishery or in aggregate," Frade said. "This was also the case for prior opinions, where no jeopardy was found."
Shaun Gehan, an attorney who represents the Fishery Survival Fund — an organization of scallop fishermen — said, "Oceana's outrage threshhold is extremely low."
"The government found a modest number of takes that would not drive loggerheads to extinction," he said.
But Oceana's Elizabeth Griffin, a marine wildlife scientist, said, "(NOAA) exempts fishermen from Endangered Species Act criminal and civil penalties by estimating the number of takes in a fishery and issuing a biological opinion stating that the estimated number of takes does not jeopardize the sea turtles."
"Exceeding the estimate," she said, "undermines the biological opinion and leaves all fishermen once again vulnerable to criminal and civil penalties for any sea turtle catch."
The Endangered Species Act defines a species as "threatened" if it is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future.
Enviro group chastises NOAA on turtle data