Endangered leatherback turtles migrate 6,000 miles across the Pacific each year, and at the end of their journey looms a deadly threat.

Drift gillnets, known as “walls of death,” float just off the California coast. While their purpose is to catch swordfish, these nets ensnare and drown more than a hundred marine mammals a year. Rare sharks and endangered sea turtles are also among the casualties.

Leatherback turtles can currently take refuge in a small conservation area, but not for much longer. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is working to shrink this safe space—a move that threatens the survival of their species.

NMFS has tried to rollback conservation areas before, and has only backed down when facing fierce public opposition. Together, we can stop NMFS again, and help leatherback turtles stave off extinction.

Send a message to NMFS to tell them that conservation areas for endangered leatherback turtles should be expanded, not put in jeopardy.

Around the world, the leatherback population is plummeting due to careless fishing practices. Even though leatherbacks have thrived for millions of years, scientists predict it won’t last another 20 years if we don’t act. At this point, even one leatherback killed is too many.

And these nets are not just killers for leatherbacks. Whales, sea lions, dolphins, and other endangered species become entangled and die every year. For every one pound of swordfish caught by these gillnets, 27 pounds of other marine species die pointlessly.

We must keep waging battles with those who plunder our fisheries rather than manage them—whether it is off the California coast, in the frigid waters of the Bering Sea or in the fisheries of the Atlantic—to secure our oceans’ future.

Act now and tell NMFS that you want stronger protections for the leatherback turtle and other species near these dangerous fisheries.

Overfishing, climate change, and ocean acidification threaten to turn our oceans into deserts. Greenpeace is working for a future where overfishing has ceased, while endangered species like the leatherback turtle can flourish in protected marine reserves.

Every short-sighted and profit-driven decision we stop is another step towards true protection of the ocean ecosystems that nourish us.

Let’s bring down these “walls of death.”

For the oceans,

John Hocevar
Greenpeace USA Ocean Campaign Director