Tell Obama to Stop Sea Turtle Killing

FROM Center for Biological Diversity

Tell President Obama to reverse his recent lethal decision and give sea turtles a fighting chance at survival. Now is the time to increase protection, not decrease it. Loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles are federally endangered species in very real danger of extinction, but instead of protecting them, Obama has decided to allow more sea turtle killings.

CONTACT

Sign an online petition here

And/Or better yet, make direct contact:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20500
phone (202) 456-1111
fax (202) 456-2461
web email form

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS

The Obama administration recently moved to triple the number of endangered sea turtles that can be caught by industrial fishing fleets off the Hawaiian coast. In the Gulf of Mexico, sea turtle bycatch will increase by 700 percent.

Loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles are federally endangered species in very real danger of extinction, but instead of protecting them, Obama has decided to allow more sea turtle killings. These species won't recover if Industrial fishing fleets continue to snag turtles with their deadly hooks -- now is the time to increase protection, not decrease it.

Recently the National Marine Fisheries Service issued a biological opinion under the Endangered Species Act authorizing longline fishing fleets in Hawaii to hook three times as many loggerhead sea turtles as was previously allowed. In the Gulf of Mexico, the Service issued a biological opinion that reversed an emergency closure and increased the allowable hooking of loggerheads to 700 percent above the level allowed before the closure.

Loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles are endangered species. Federal scientists just months ago declared that both species will go extinct if their current downward population trend continues. These turtles simply can not sustain increased levels of take by longline fishing fleets.

Please instruct the National Marine Fisheries Service to decrease -- rather than increase -- the take of sea turtles by requiring the use of advanced fishing practices proven to catch fewer sea turtles and do less harm to those that are captured. By decreasing the recent take level, the federal government can facilitate the recovery of these species rather than hasten their decline.

Thank you for everything you do for animals!