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US Loggerhead Numbers Drop

Commercial fishing causes decline in sea turtle numbers

By Caroline Zimmerman,  Newser User

Posted Sep 23, 2007 6:11 PM CDT

(Newser) – The US loggerhead turtle population is waning, and a federal report concludes that commercial fishing is probably to blame, the AP reports. The threatened species gained numbers through the '90s, but now the sea turtle is on the brink of becoming officially endangered. Ocean health advocates are calling for federal funding to research the relationship between the turtles and fishing fleets further.

While scientists routinely study the turtles when they come ashore on Florida beaches to reproduce and nest, little is known of the animal's migratory patterns. But researchers think the population is declining because nestings, the key population indicator, are currently dropping between 2% and 7% each year. One environmental group is now calling for the creation of protected ocean habitats.

An adult female loggerhead turtle is carried by Volusia County Marines Science Center employees to be released Monday, July 23, 2007, back into the Atlantic Ocean just north of  Ponce Inlet, Fla. The turtle, which washed ashore in extremely lethargic condition on May 21, was rescued and treated by the...
An adult female loggerhead turtle is carried by Volusia County Marines Science Center employees to be released Monday, July 23, 2007, back into the Atlantic Ocean just north of Ponce Inlet, Fla. The...   (Associated Press)
A loggerhead sea turtle swims to open water after workers from Miami Seaquarium, released it Nov. 21, 2006, at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park in Key Biscayne, Fla. After encouraging gains in the 1990s, populations of loggerhead sea turtles are now dropping in the United States, primarily as a...
A loggerhead sea turtle swims to open water after workers from Miami Seaquarium, released it Nov. 21, 2006, at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park in Key Biscayne, Fla. After encouraging gains in the 1990s,...   (Associated Press)
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