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Groups Seek Protection For Loggerhead Turtles

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The Associated Press

Published: November 15, 2007

WASHINGTON - Two environmental groups are asking the Interior Department to declare loggerhead sea turtles that inhabit the Atlantic coast officially endangered, maintaining that tens of thousands of them are killed annually by commercial fishing and because of coastal development.

The loggerhead sea turtle already is classified as "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act, but environmentalists say a higher level of protection is needed for the turtles that nest primarily along the southern Atlantic coast and to some extent on the Gulf coast of Florida.

Oceana, a sea-life advocacy group, and the Center for Biological Diversity will file a petition with the Interior Department and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration today asking that the Western Atlantic Sea Turtle be declared a subspecies and officially endangered.

The designation would provide the turtle and its habitat increased protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Elizabeth Griffin, a marine wildlife scientist with Oceana, said the biggest threat to the turtle comes from commercial and sport fishing as turtles often are caught in nets, fishing lines and other devices.

The petition says turtles also are killed by ingesting refuse from plastic items to balloons.

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