Alarming numbers of dead turtles washing up on Georgia beaches

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Posted 1:41PM on Thursday, May 23, 2002

ATLANTA - Some 90 threatened and endangered sea turtles found dead recently on Georgia's beaches likely drowned in the nets of shrimp boats, state officials said. The turtles were found during the past two weeks, said David Bernhart of the National Marine Fisheries Service, a federal agency. ``The number of turtles (found dead) is extraordinary; five times the average for the same two-week period this time of year,'' Bernhart told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Bernhart said the fisheries service may enact emergency regulations prohibiting night shrimping and mandating the use of devices designed to provide escape routes for turtles accidentally swept into the shrimp nets. He said the emergency action likely would not be enacted until after Memorial Day because of federal requirements that require study and documentation. Until then, Georgia officials are helpless to protect them, said Mark Dodd, the sea turtle coordinator for the Wildlife Resources Division of the state Department of Natural Resources. Georgia waters are currently closed to shrimping, and all the boats are fishing offshore in federal waters, he said. Dodd said it was particularly troubling that seven of the 90 dead turtles were egg-bearing loggerheads. ``We usually have nine mature females a year wash ashore,'' he said. ``They're the most important for species survival.'' Loggerheads nest on beaches in Georgia, Florida and other Southeastern states during the summer, usually returning to the same beach where they were hatched. Loggerhead females do not reach egg-bearing age for at least 25 years, Dodd said. Most of the dead turtles were found on beaches from Sea Island south to Cumberland Island, Bernhart said. Studies indicate that the number of nesting turtles in Georgia is declining by an average of 3 percent a year. Commercial fishing is blamed for most sea turtle deaths. Dodd and Bernhart said shrimp boats are the prime suspects again this year. Dodd, who performed necropsies on the turtles, said none were killed by infections, parasites, shark bites or propeller strikes. ``They were all healthy; they all had a lot of fat,'' he said. ``Their stomachs were full, indicating they were feeding right up to the time of death.'' More large Gulf Coast boats are fishing off Georgia than ever before, Bernhart said. The 90-foot boats can drag nets twice as large as those pulled by Georgia boats. They shrimp all night, while Georgia shrimpers traditionally return to port each evening. The majority of the dead turtles were threatened loggerheads. In addition, 10 endangered Kemps-Ridleys and three endangered leatherbacks have washed up, along with 10 unidentified turtles.