Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Turtle bycatch improving
Here's an article from the local paper describing the downward trend in sea turtle bycatch. Turtle- excluder devices (TEDs) seem to be helping on a national scale but the NC fishers interviewed for the article don't seem to think that bycatch is an issue here. The article also cites a decreased number of vessels in the water (due to low profit causing exit from the industry) and a performance standard.
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7 comments:
Well, shrimp boats account for 98% of turtle bycatch, and all shrimp boats are required to have TEDs. So, that seems fairly straightforward, right?
Further, the US began requiring TEDs on all shrimp boats in 1987. Account for a few years for implementation, and you bring the timetable right up to where the drop began. I could understand if that was a requirement that seriously predated the drop, but it's pretty much in line with it.
Why would an obvious connection like that be considered equally with random local fisherman who say the shrimp boats were never that big of a problem? Sure, correlation isn't necessarily causation, but it surely means a bit more than local, anecdotal evidence, right?
I agree Jacob. Seems obvious. TEDs and fewer boats = fewer dead turtles.
Of coarse the shrimp boats are going to say they are not responsible for turtle deaths. Their main concern is protecting their business. If they admitted the slightest little bit of responsibility for turtle deaths, they might have more regulations which would add to operating costs and reduction of profits. Almost like big tobacco and cancer. If you act like the problem doesn't exist, it might go away.
Wow, 90% less turtle deaths, the TEDs are obviously the way to go. It's good to know there are requirements like this for certain fishers that drag nets and threaten wildlife in the water. The TED itself seems pretty simple of an idea and I can't see it being very expensive or detrimental for the fishermen. Good fix.
It sounds to me like the TEDs are obviously working, and are a great idea, but are not the main reason that this decrease has occured. Whether or not the fishermen acknowledge that by catch is their problem is not really the issue, since they are all required to utilize the TEDs to comply with the standard. If they were compliant, then they probably were not responsible for bycatch after the standard was instituted. There has been a 74 percent decline in the number of shrimp boats since 1994. There has also been a 90% decline in sea turtle deaths as a result of run-ins with fishing gear since 1990. That's a pretty amazing correlation. Dr. Schuhmann acknowledged fewer boats, but I don't think any other poster stressed this. Most were worried about casting the shrimp fishermen in a negative light(big tobacco & cancer). If 3/4 of fishermen go out of business, of course the bycatch numbers will drop with or without the TEDs. This is why Ms. Finkbeiner said in the article "It's very complicated to actually pin down why bycatch has declined."
Well, the great thing is that the by catch has declined, no matter what the reason is. It seems like the big contributor to the decline in turtle deaths is the combination of the TEDs and the lower amount of boats. It's nice to see something going right with the environment in the U.S.
I think its great this article highlights the positive side of the use of TED's. I was surprised on the reaction of the fisherman, I mean it's everyone's ocean and regardless of why there are fewer turtle deaths shouldn't they be excited the deaths have gone down for whatever the reason? I agree the rates didn't just fall all by themselves so as the data shows it is doing the job by decreasing the deaths.
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