Shrimpers face more restrictions after turtles die

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA - South Carolina shrimpers have been told to stay home or use turtle excluder devices for the next 30 days after a high number of endangered sea turtles died in Georgia. <br> <br> The National Marine Fisheries Service&#39;s unprecedented emergency restrictions on shrimp trawling yesterday includes waters along southeastern states from roughly Cape Fear, North Carolina, to just north of Saint Augustine, Florida. <br> <br> All night trawling is banned for a month. Agency spokesman Chris Smith said the service had never closed waters to night trawling and had not issued emergency leatherback provisions for more than two weeks at one time. <br> <br> Smith said the Coast Guard will enforce the restrictions, which also preclude the use of turtle excluder devices with standard-sized openings. <br> <br> South Carolina sea turtle biologist Sally Murphy counted 27 leatherbacks along the coast Tuesday, more than enough to trigger emergency federal provisions here. <br> <br> Between May 5-19, 90 dead sea turtles were washed ashore on Georgia beaches. They included 76 loggerheads, ten endangered Kemp&#39;s ridleys and four leatherbacks. Murphy said not all of the deaths can be attributed to shrimpers. <br> <br> This spring, for the first time, 25 to 30 very large, powerful Gulf vessels have worked Georgia waters around the clock. The large Gulf vessels can use more and larger trawl nets and can operate faster than the smaller local vessels, which normally pull smaller nets for two to four hours at a stretch and only during the day. <br> <br> The vice president of the South Carolina Shrimpers Association, Clay Cable, said the new emergency restrictions will not affect most South Carolina shrimp fishermen because they already are towing leatherback excluder devices.