The vertical bars of the TED and the escape opening for sea turtles can be seen in this shrimp trawl net. Only 10% of Louisiana shrimpers were found complying with TED laws last year.

There have been significant reductions in the number of stranded sea turtles washed ashore during June, July and August of this year thanks to contributions from our members, strong advocacy from the staff at the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, and a coalition of partners working with us to demand Gulf of Mexico shrimpers stop drowning endangered sea turtles.

We've received media coverage all over the nation exposing the outrageous spike of dead sea turtles on Mississippi beaches in April and the fact that Louisiana shrimpers are ignoring Turtle Excluder Device laws.

Congress is now engaged, demanding action from Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the head Administrator of NOAA and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Click here to download the letter from Congress requesting quarterly reporting of sea turtle deaths and the actions to stop them.

We sent thousands of letters to NMFS demanding increased enforcement of Turtle Excluder Device (TED) laws in the Gulf of Mexico, and are pleased to share this latest report:

The NMFS Office of Law Enforcement personnel completed 265 TED inspections through July 20, 2011. Conservatively, this is 10 to 15 times the number of inspections averaged over the last three years. In early May, the observed compliance rate rose quickly to approximately 60%, then upwards to about 68% at the beginning of June. By mid-July, inspection data shows an observed compliance rate of nearly 87%