Number: 1986-02
WHEREAS, about 45,000 sea turtles are caught each year by the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico shrimp trawl fishery; and
WHEREAS, about 12,600 of these turtles drown, including the threatened loggerhead and green sea turtle and the critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle; and
WHEREAS, the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle has only some 500 turtles nesting annually, making loss of a single mature animal significant to the survival of the species; and
WHEREAS, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has developed a Trawling Efficiency Device (TED) which can reduce sea turtle captures by 97% while maintaining shrimp catches equal to standard rigged trawls; and
WHEREAS, the TED can also eliminate other by-catch including jellyfish, horseshoe crabs, rays, sharks, and finfish thereby reducing sorting time, increasing trawl times, and increasing trawl efficiency; and
WHEREAS, recent modifications to the TED have resulted in its safe and easy handling and operation including a device to exclude smaller finfish;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in annual meeting assembled March 20-23, 1986, in Seattle, Washington, urges appropriate Gulf and Atlantic state fisheries agencies on the state level and the National Marine Fisheries Service on the federal level to (1) conduct an aggressive program to educate shrimp fishermen on the use, construction, and value to fishery and turtle conservation of TEDs, including providing TEDs at low cost to fishermen for demonstration purposes, and (2) require the use of the TED on all medium and large shrimp trawlers to (a) protect endangered species, (b) reduce the mortality of sea turtles, (c) conserve the finfish resource currently being discarded in coastal and offshore waters, and (d) promote efficiency in the shrimp trawling industry in an environmentally beneficial manner.