A U.S. district court has issued summary judgment against a lawsuit filed by conservationists attempting to stop the opening of leatherback sea turtle habitat to commercial sablefish harvesting, allowing NOAA Fisheries’ plans to move forward.
NOAA Fisheries announced in December 2023 that it would open 407 square miles of the leatherback’s principal feeding area for sablefish harvesting, despite the fact that the vertical lines used for sablefish pots can entangle sea turtles. A 2012 biological opinion issued by NOAA Fisheries estimated that sablefish gear would injure or kill roughly two sea turtles over five years.
With sea turtles already in decline, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Turtle Island Restoration Network sued to stop the rule from taking effect.
“Leatherbacks are drowning horrible deaths or being seriously injured when they get entangled in pot traps, and this must stop immediately,” Turtle Island Restoration Network Founder Todd Steiner said after the lawsuit was announced in 2023. “With only a [few] thousand adult leatherbacks left in the Pacific, every single leatherback is critical to the survival of the species. Their fate is in our hands, and time is running out.”
NOAA Fisheries responded to CBD’s concerns earlier in the rulemaking process, claiming that increasing the area where sablefish harvesters can set traps will ...
