SAN FRANCISCO— The Center for Biological Diversity notified NOAA Fisheries today of its legal responsibility to close a large area off the Pacific coast to swordfish drift gillnets to protect endangered loggerhead sea turtles, due to unusually warm waters off southern California. The agency must take action by June 1 to avoid the risk of a lawsuit, the Center’s letter notes.
“Drift gillnets always wreak havoc on ocean life, but it’s especially critical they be pulled from California’s water before endangered loggerheads arrive this summer,” said Catherine Kilduff, a senior attorney at the Center. “Thankfully loggerheads have a built-in regulatory protection from these mile-long nets when ocean conditions bring the sea turtles to southern California to feed. Federal officials just need to establish the loggerheads’ conservation area, and they should do that immediately.”
NOAA anticipates that El Niño conditions are likely to occur from June through February 2027, during which above-average warm water is pushed up from the equatorial Pacific. Scientists estimate that in years with warm waters, thousands of loggerhead sea turtles feed off southern California. In years of average or cooler water temperature, none are present. Record-breaking warm water temperatures have been recorded off San Diego for 38 days since Jan. 1, indicating that this year is extremely atypical. During the past four weeks, above-average water temperatures were prevalent over most of the global oceans.
The Pacific Loggerhead Conservation Area was established in 2000 to prevent the drift gillnet fishery from jeopardizing the loggerhead sea turtle’s existence. When in effect, it prohibits fishing in a 25,000-square-mile area off California during June, July and August. The swordfish drift gillnet fishery operates off California May 1 to Jan. 31 but more than 90% of the fishing generally occurs after mid-August. The last time the closure went into effect was 2024.
Drift gillnets that target swordfish and thresher sharks in ocean waters off California create a dangerous invisible curtain that entangles whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, sea turtles, other species of sharks, and other ecologically important fish. Once trapped in these nets, most animals eventually drown.
NOAA Fisheries is required to phase out the use of drift gillnet fishing gear by the end of 2027 under the Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction Act of 2022.
Loggerhead sea turtles make some of the longest known journeys of any sea turtle species, sometimes migrating more than 7,500 miles between nesting beaches. Adapted for these lengthy migrations, loggerheads have a small shell and enlarged flippers.
