Oppose increased Hawaii swordfish longline fishing that endangers sea turtles by 5/18

If you have not already, please submit your opposition online to increased Hawaii swordfish longline fishing that harms sea turtles by May 18 by clicking: http://ow.ly/58tg

Federal regulations are proposed that would increase the longline fishery for swordfish in Hawai'i. This unnecessary increasing in catching toxic swordfish will further threaten endangered leatherback sea turtles,whose Pacific populations collapsed to less than 10 percent during the 1980s and 1990s, and loggerhead sea turtles.

Please tell the federal government that even a few injured or killed leatherbacks and loggerhead sea turtles is too many when these populations are so endangered. The current plan could triple the number of deaths if it is not stopped and further risk sea turtle extinction in the Pacific.

Swordfish is known to contain high levels methylmercury (a neurotoxin that should be avoided) and other contaminants because they bioaccumulate ocean toxins brought up the food chain. Some restaurants will not even serve swordfish anymore because of tumors in the tissue and concerns about its health effects. The question is why risk harming critically endangered sea turtles to put poison on your plate?

Please act by May 18 with your comments to tell the federal government to that we cannot risk sea turtles for increased swordfish catches. Swordfish, along with many top ocean predators, have also declined dramatically and should be protected from overfishing, too.

Thank you for your support of sustainable oceans!

Please also join us in our 10 for Turtles Campaign! In honor of World Turtle Day on May 23, we are asking Twitter users to donate $10 or any amount to help Honu.Org in our advocacy efforts.

Simply go to http://www.honu.org, then click on the link at the top for a quick and secure donation. Please follow us on Twitter while you are at it: http://twitter.com/honu to get our updates.

Thank you again! Mahalo!

May 18, Endangered Species Day

Today is Endangered Species Day and a great time to remember the endangered sea turtles of the world, especially the leatherback and loggerhead sea turtles.

Too busy to learn more or too broke to donate to help? Well, this weekend, give up shrimp, tuna, swordfish, and shark because fishing for those seafood options leads to many turtle deaths each year. So how about giving them up if only for the weekend?

Watch "Voyage of the Lonely Turtle" on PBS, Apr. 15

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/

From April 15, PBS stations across the nation will start broadcasting a new documentary about the amazing journey of the loggerhead sea turtles that is titled, "VOYAGE OF THE LONELY TURTLE." Check you local station for times and other dates. Be sure to check out this great story about sea turtles. Lots of interesting things on the PBS website, including downloads and games.

"A solitary loggerhead turtle in the middle of a vast ocean may not sound like an adventure film, but stick with her. Along her 9000-mile voyage to nest, our loggerhead tour guide in VOYAGE OF THE LONELY TURTLE encounters hammerhead sharks, deep ocean tempests, and man-made death traps in the form of fishing nets and hooks. Her body of well-suited armor and specialized adaptations for deep-ocean dwelling will help the sea turtle evade many of the ocean's menaces. But this is just one set of challenges to overcome. Here is another: she must find her way across the Pacific, from Mexico to a small stretch of beach in Japan, a precise location that she has been to just once before, as a two-inch hatchling, decades ago.

Researchers have learned a great deal about how this curious creature could make such a phenomenal voyage. Some of the most valuable information was gained from a single voyage. Scientist Wallace J. Nichols released the captive loggerhead turtle, Adelita, into the Pacific a decade ago. Over the course of a year, Adelita did what no sea turtle had ever done before, she took researchers and turtle enthusiasts along on her journey, to her beach, to nest. Since then, researchers have shed much light on how sea turtles like loggerheads navigate the astounding trip. One of the more fascinating aspects of this navigation is the turtle's use of magnetic mapping to chart its course.

NATURE'S VOYAGE OF THE LONELY TURTLE premieres Sunday, April 15th at 8 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check your local listings)"

Ask the Vatican to End Sea Turtle Consumption During Lent

The great people at Pro Peninsula are organizing a campaign to ask the Pope and the Vatican to encourage Catholics to stop eating sea turtles during Lent. Please take action now to support this effort!

http://www.propeninsula.org/campaign/1/5.html

Pro Peninsula stated that an estimated 10,000 sea turtles are killed and eaten during holiday festivals each year! With so few sea turtles remaining in our oceans, it's imperative that communities find alternative foods that are healthy for the people who eat them and do not put sea turtles at risk of extinction.

New Year's Resolution to Save Sea Turtles - No tuna, swordfish, or shark!

This year make a resolution to help threatened and endangered sea turtles and other marine species by making a New Year's resolution to eliminate or reduce your consumption of tuna, swordfish, and shark. The best gift you can give the oceans - and your health - this holiday season.

Every day longline and drift gillnet fishing vessels imperil the survival of sea turtles and other marine species fishing for tuna and swordfish. Sea turtles are killed or injured when caught or hooked because these fishing methods catch many animals not the targets of the fishermen. Bycatch, as this problem is known, wastes precious marine life that is thrown overboard dead, dying, or injured.

Scientists have found that 90 percent of large predatory species, which includes tuna and swordfish, have been depleted in our oceans in just about 50 years of fishing. Recently, studies also reported that commercial fisheries may collapse by 2048 if we continue to overfish popular species. Not only are sea turtles at risk, but tuna, swordfish, and shark are threatened by industrial longline and drift gillnet fishing.

Fewer fish means more fishing to supply demand, which continues to put pressure on the dwindling numbers of sea turtles. Since 1980 alone, Pacific leatherback sea turtles and loggerhead sea turtles have fallen by 80 to 95 percent, primarily to wasteful fishing practices. In 2000, about 200,000 loggerhead sea turtles and 40,000 leatherback sea turtles were taken by pelagic longline fishing. At this rate, Pacific sea turtles may go extinct long before commercial fisheries collapse due to overfishing.

Mercury and other contaminants build up in large predatory species like tuna and swordfish, making them unhealthy for you to eat. The FDA and EPA tell women who intend to become pregnant, are currently pregnant, or nursing and children not to eat swordfish or shark ever. Additionally, women and children are warned eat less than 6 ounces of most tuna species. However, Consumer Union, which publishes Consumer Reports, advises pregnant women not to eat any canned tuna because of the danger methylmercury, a potent neurotoxin, poses to developing fetuses. Consumer Union adds that young children should minimize their canned tuna consumption. If you still want to eat up to two meals of fish per week, then find the fish that are safest for you and least dangerous for the oceans. Rule of thumb: smaller fish that do not live as long do not build up - or bioaccumulate - pollution in our oceans, making them healthier for you to eat.

Do you your part to protect sea turtles by doing nothing. Just stop eating tuna, swordfish, and shark to reduce your impact on the oceans and to help save sea turtles. That is the most important thing you can do for Pacific sea turtles in 2007.

For healthy oceans and a healthy new year, make it your New Year's resolution to give up or cut down on tuna and swordfish. The sea turtles thank you!