Thursday, December 17, 2009

Suit challenges longline rule changes



Changes to longline fishery rules endanger the existence of loggerhead turtles, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday against the National Marine Fisheries Service

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Man Who Stole Sea Turtle Eggs Headed To Prison

A West Palm Beach man has been sentenced to two years in prison for stealing sea turtle eggs.


Monday, November 2, 2009

Endangered status sought for loggerhead sea turtles

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/search/content/state/epaper/2009/10/27/loggerhead.html


SOUTH FLORIDA ENVIRONMENT
Endangered status sought for loggerhead sea turtles
The number of loggerhead sea-turtle nests has plunged in recent years, prompting calls to reclassify the turtles as ``endangered.''
BY PAUL QUINLAN
Palm Beach Post
Loggerhead sea turtles are in a ``dire state,'' with a 40 percent decline in the number of nests counted over the past decade, experts say.
Florida, home to 90 percent of loggerhead nests in the U.S., saw the fourth-worst nesting season on record in 2009, when the number dropped 15 percent, according to the environmental group Oceana.
Scientists at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton, who count turtle nests every year on the city's s beaches, can attest to the plunge: Two of the past three years yielded record low counts.
``We're finally getting below 400 nests, which is scary,'' said Kirt Rusenko, a marine conservationist at the center. ``When I first started here 14 years ago, our nest number was more like 900.''
Loggerheads, which hatch from eggs the size of ping pong balls on beaches from Texas to North Carolina, can typically grow shells three feet long and live to be 50 to 60 years old.
Listed as ``threatened'' in 1978 under the Endangered Species Act, loggerheads have continued to struggle under the onslaught of beachfront development and commercial fishing.
As tiny hatchlings, they tend to shuffle their way into the ocean by following the glimmer of stars and moonlight -- so long as they are not led astray by onshore lights. Beach erosion, which is often made worse by seawalls and development along shorelines, leaves the turtles with a smaller area in which they can nest.
Hatchlings that survive the crawl to sea face further peril from longline fishing, which involves cables strung with hooks that can snare the turtles. Improved techniques and tighter regulations have helped reduce the fishing industry's impact on turtles, say experts, although the practice remains the leading threat.
Oceana, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Turtle Island Restoration Network are awaiting the federal government's response to their petition to boost protections for loggerhead turtles by reclassifying them from threatened to endangered and creating areas of critical habitat -- all of which could make make building along certain shorelines more difficult for developers.

Monday, October 19, 2009

62 Cold-stunned Babies Released in Flagler Beach





















































This "cold " morning, while on patrol, Libby and Roz came to FB47 which had emerged during the nite and they rescued 62 little hatchlings that had been cold stunned. They were just laying on the beach looking bad. They found 62 of them and Libby took them home to warm up and by 2:30PM they were ready to go go go!!!! Very cool!!!! The nest belongs to Mary Narin.

Thanks, Lori

Friday, October 16, 2009

Tell Congress: Sea Turtles Need More Protection to Survive

The long term survival of sea turtles is in jeopardy because of destructive
fishing practices, habitat degradation and climate change. All six species
found in U.S. waters have spent the last three decades listed as “threatened” or
“endangered” but signs of recovery are few and far between.
Urge your
representatives to support new, comprehensive protections for sea turtles that
will work on the land and at sea. The continued existence of sea turtles
depends on it.

http://takeaction.oceana.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25228

Thursday, October 8, 2009























































FB 44 was cleaned last nite and it was wonderful!! Sophies nest was a great
success!! We released 10 loggerhead hatchlings into a calm ocean and they all
happily swam away to live a seaturtles life. The nest was really successful as a
whole. The total count was 7 live, 3 pipped live( which means that
they were just coming out of the shell when we found them),4 unhatched eggs, 1
egg that looked infertile, 4 that didn't make it and 116 hatched shells. So out
of the 135 eggs that were in your nest a total of 126 baby turtles
made it out of the nest alive. It just doesn't get a whole lot better then
that!! Thank you Sophie for adopting this nest. Sorry you couldn't be
here but we named one of the hatchlings Sophie in your honor. Enjoy the pictures
and hope to see you again next year when you come to visit.
If you have any
questions or want any more information, just email me. I do have some seaturtle
puzzles and information sheets that I can send to you in the mail if you want me
to. Just send me your home address and I will mail it out.

Thank you for loving our seaturtles the way we
do!!!

Lori and the Flagler Turtle Patrol