Save Hawaii's Green Sea Turtles
Don't let Hawaii's green sea turtles lose their Endangered Species Act protection.
Right now the National Marine Fisheries Service is considering a proposal to delist the Hawaii population of green sea turtles -- also known as honu -- even though the turtles have not yet reached their target population size and still face danger from fisheries and the growing threats of sea-level rise and plastic pollution.
Green sea turtles are a treasured part of Hawaii's natural heritage, and it is precisely these protections that have saved them and helped them manage modern problems they have little hope of overcoming alone.
It would be drastically premature to take away the honu's protected status -- any momentum in the direction of their full recovery would be lost.
Please sign today to ask the Fisheries Service to support continued protections for Hawaii's green sea turtles.
I am writing to make sure that Hawaii's green sea turtles continue to have Endangered Species Act protections. These protections are necessary to ensure the survival of this population of sea turtles, which has just come back from the brink of extinction.
We must make sure it stays that way.
[Your comment will be added here]
Green sea turtles have not yet met their recovery goals; therefore delisting is premature and unwarranted. Hawaii's sea turtles continue to face a multitude of threats that range from habitat destruction to sea-level rise to incidental capture in fishing gear and entanglement in plastic pollution. These ongoing threats require management under the Endangered Species Act to make certain that Hawaii's
honu are around for generations to come.
I urge the Fisheries Service to deny the petition to delist Hawaii's green sea turtles, and I support efforts toward the turtles' continued recovery, including the designation of critical habitat.
Thank you.
