Hear personal accounts from select Aquarium staff members of recent trips to the Gulf, where they have aided in sea turtle rescue and vitally important dolphin surveying.

Enjoy live performances by Red Top Ramblers, Henry’s Attic and a special appearance from Mark Bryan of Hootie and the Blowfish, and Doug Jones and Gary Greene from Cravin’ Melon.

Cajun food will be provided by Krewe of Charleston, and beer and non-alcoholic products will be served.

Proceeds from the event will support the South Carolina Aquarium’s wildlife care, conservation and rescue programs, as well as allow the Aquarium to lend world-class care and expertise to the Gulf.

Tickets are $30 per person.
Additional donations will be accepted at the door.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Advance reservations suggested by calling (843) 577-FISH (3474).
The event is held in partnership with Awendaw Green, Sewee Outpost, Krewe of Charleston and Palmetto Brewery.

From the Shem Creek blog.

Save Our Seas, a SC Aquarium event benefiting wildlife rescue at home and in the Gulf Coast

The ship, which will carry a crew of 21 and up to 17 scientists, will support NOAA’s mission to protect, restore, and manage the use of living marine, coastal, and ocean resources.

Her primary objective will be to study, monitor, and collect data on a wide range of sea life and ocean conditions, primarily in U.S. waters from the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and South Atlantic to North Carolina.

This region includes important commercial and recreational fisheries, and is one of the world’s best known and most productive marine areas.

“With its dramatically lower background noise levels, this ship will greatly enhance our ability to use the most sophisticated acoustic devices to assess fish, marine mammal and sea turtle stocks,” – James Balsiger.

The data collected by the ship will be used by scientists who study variation in ocean conditions and sea life and how they relate to such issues as sustainable fisheries, fish habitat, habitat restoration, coral reefs, and protected species status. Pisces also will observe weather, conduct habitat assessments, and survey marine mammal and bird populations.

Foremost among Pisces’s state-of-the-art capabilities is it’s “quiet” hull; it minimizes underwater sounds it makes, allowing scientists to use hydro-acoustic methods for surveying marine life, and significantly reducing changes in the natural behavior of animals caused by ship noise.

“Pisces will not only expand the type of information we are able to obtain, but as a multipurpose vessel will improve our ability to support ecosystem approaches to management of the oceans.” – James Balsiger, acting Assistant Administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service.

From the Shem Creek blog.

NOAA’s newest multipurpose vessel to assess fish, turtle stocks

Those that do make it out will be rewarded with a nice catch – assuming everything goes according to plan – because SCDNR officials say shrimp have been keeping their own out in the ocean – the question, “is how many boats are gonna be out there to catch them?”

SCDNR also says that the in-water catch rate of immature loggerheads has been increasing, which at first sounds alarming, but then you realize it means management efforts such as nest protection and the required use of Turtle Excluder Devices (TED’s) in commercial shrimp trawl nets may be paying off.

“…in the Charleston shipping channel, catch rates have increased significantly since 1990.” – SCDNR

Although sea turtles were not captured in 75% of the tows, several noteworthy trends were evident for the 25% of tows that did capture sea turtles:

• * Loggerhead sea turtles accounted for 94 percent of all sea turtle species captured.
• * There was a strong north/south gradient in catch rates, with highest catch rates off northern Florida and southern Georgia.
• * A strong north/south gradient in loggerhead size was noted, with the greatest frequency of smaller loggerheads collected off northern Florida & southern Georgia.
• * Significant increases in catch rates were observed between 2000 & 2008 for two sizes of loggerheads, notably the size representing reproductively mature adults and the next smallest size group.

From the Shem Creek blog.

Commercial shrimp season starts, more turtles are being caught

According to Oceana.org, NOAA’s NMFS has failed to meet the legal 12-month deadline for responding to three separate petitions focusing on two different sea turtle species in U.S. waters.

Because of this, The Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana.org and the Turtle Island Restoration Network are calling for stronger protection for sea turtles, including comprehensive legislation on their behalf.

David Allison, senior campaign director at Oceana says, “Sea turtles in all U.S. waters are at risk of extinction and the agency responsible for their protection is failing to do its job. If we hope to ensure the long-term survival of these majestic species, we must move quickly to enact a comprehensive law to protect U.S. sea turtles.”

“The U.S. government has knowingly failed to respond to our petitions” – David Allison

Among other things, the sea turtle petitions call for increased protections in the loggerheads’ key nesting beach and marine habitats. It also mentions the negative effects on loggerhead turtles from greenhouse gas emissions saying, “…the threat to the loggerhead from global warming has increased since the filing of the petition, and will continue to do so.”

From the Shem Creek blog.

NOAA in hot water over expired sea turtle petitions

South Carolina Turtles

Chicken turtle		Common Snapping turtle
Eastern Painted turtle		Eastern River Cooter turtle
Florida Box Turtle		Florida Cooter
Florida Softshell turtle		Spiny Softshell turtle
Yellow-bellied Slider turtle

Violation of the law would carry a $200 fine per turtle.

Images courtesy of Wikipedia.

From the Shem Creek blog.

The Turtle Export Control bill goes to the Senate this week

Meanwhile, SeaTurtle.org shows Charleston County has the most stranded turtle nests in SC (possibly due to it’s long coastline), and most of those were loggerheads:

The main threat to adult loggerhead turtles is shrimp trawls, and crab nets and shrimp trawls threaten Kemp’s Ridley turtles too.

From the Shem Creek blog.

Loggerhead nesting for 2008 was 7th highest year on record

Two southeast Iowa men are facing charges of poaching turtles.

Officers charged 36-year-old Mike Kerr of Mount Pleasant and 38-year-old Jack Schafer of Fairfield with using illegal methods to take turtles, failure to have commercial gear tags and illegally taking and possessing a turtle. They face fines totaling $2,299.

The Department of Natural Resources says conservation officers acting on a tip staked out traps on July 9th.

Fortunately, we don’t poach turtles here in South Carolina, and to hear that two people in their upper 30′s are doing so is just a crying shame.

From the Shem Creek blog.

Poach Turtles, Pay Fines

It was also cool to see some turtles – or were they tortoises? – and some slithery snake bracelets brought in by local animal lovers.

Unfortunately, all the money being spent here isn’t gonna be much help for Shem Creek’s shrimping boats if these gas prices stay so high and the amount of shrimp out there keeps dwindling.

Of course I took a bunch of pictures while I was there, click the clown to see a gallery of 27 of them.

From the Shem Creek blog.

Mt. Pleasant ‘Blessing of the Fleet’ 2008