Groups Seek 'Endangered' Status for Loggerheads

Loggerhead sea turtles in the western North Atlantic are at risk of extinction if more is not done to protect them and their habitats, according to a petition sent to federal officials today by two environmental groups.

The Center for Biological Diversity and Oceana are asking the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to change the loggerhead's designation from "threatened" to "endangered" under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The organizations say the endangered designation would provide better protection for the loggerhead, both in the ocean and on its nesting beaches.

"This year marked a devastating decline in nesting for loggerhead sea turtles on the Atlantic coast," said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans program attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. "To ensure their survival, loggerheads need stronger protections from drowning in deadly fishing gear."

Commercial fishing, in which loggerheads can be accidentally trapped and killed in nets, is not the only threat to the loggerhead's survival, the groups say. Coastal development, turtle and egg hunting, pollution, boats, beach vehicles and, increasingly, climate change also pose dangers to the species' survival.

"Now we are coming to realize that the impacts of global warming pollutants are placing even more stress on this already significantly declining population, including further loss of nesting habitat from rising sea levels," the groups stated in their petition to federal officials.

Climate change threatens not only the beaches on which loggerheads lay their eggs, but the turtles themselves. Global warming is expected to lead to more severe tropical storms and more acidic oceans, which could harm shelled creatures like clams, oysters and crustaceans that are part of the loggerhead's diet. Furthermore, the sex of loggerheads is determined by the temperature at which their eggs incubate: the warmer the temperature, the more females are produced.

"Currently, in the warmer temperatures of Florida, the primary nesting beaches for the western North Atlantic loggerhead, the sex ratio is highly skewed towards females, with less than 10 percent of eggs producing males," the petition stated. "An increase in temperatures by 1 degree Celsius would be sufficient to cause the southern loggerhead population of the United States to be 'ultra-biased' towards female production. Without males, sea turtles could not breed, leading to local extinction."

The petition pointed out that the government's own data shows that all the loggerhead groups it studies have seen populations drop over the past five years. It added that, this year, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission counted the lowest number of loggerhead nests on beaches in nearly two decades.

The western North Atlantic loggerhead sea turtle has been listed as threatened since 1978. The turtles, which hatch on sandy beaches and spend their adult lives in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, can live past 50 years. Sea turtles have existed for more than 110 million years.

"Through destructive fishing and global warming pollution, we are endangering the loggerhead and its ecosystem," said Eric Bilsky, a senior attorney for Oceana. "We may lose a species that roamed the Earth millions of years before we arrived."

Federal officials have 90 days to respond to the groups' petition for endangered status. According to the Endangered Species Act, the government must grant the request if the petition makes a compelling scientific case that the greater protection status is warranted.

The Center for Biological Diversity, "Conservation Groups Petition for Added Loggerhead Sea Turtle Protection." URL: (http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/press/atlantic-loggerhead-11-15-2007.html)