A key industry panel wants Louisiana lawmakers to repeal a 1987 law that prohibits state fisheries agents from enforcing federal rules designed to protect sea turtles by outfitting shrimpers’ nets with special escape hatches for threatened and endangered turtles.
The Associated Press reports the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force voted 7-0 on Wednesday in favor of repealing the state law. The task force now wants the Louisiana Legislature to repeal the ban on state enforcement of the federal laws.
Louisiana’s shrimp industry has long been criticized by environmental groups for refusing to enforce the federal rules requiring the use of turtle excluder devices, also known by their acronym TEDs.
But the federal rules have long been challenged by shrimpers who say they are costly and unnecessary.
Mark Abraham, the task force’s chairman, says the panel has lined up support from state lawmakers willing to sponsor a bill repealing the enforcement ban in the upcoming legislative session. He said repealing the 1987 law will prove the Louisiana shrimp industry is interested in protecting threatened and endangered sea turtles.
“It will send a message to the rest of the country that we are serious about sustainability,” Abraham says.
The devices allow turtles caught in shrimp nets to swim out. Carole Allen, the Turtle Island Restoration Network’s Gulf director, welcomed the announcement but cautions that a previous effort to repeal the law last year failed. She says the lack of enforcement in Louisiana endangers turtles that routinely cross through the state’s waters.
