Sea Turtle Conservation; Shrimp Trawling Requirements

NMFS issues this temporary action to allow the use of limited tow times by shrimp trawlers as an alternative to the use of Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) in inshore waters of Galveston Bay, Texas, north of the Galveston jetties, east of the Galveston Island Interstate-45 Causeway, west of the "Shellfish Line" in East Bay (the line running from the entrance to Robinson Bayou to the tide gauge at Marsh Point), and, in Upper Galveston Bay, south of the overhead power lines crossing from near Evergreen Point to near Barbours Cut, and, in Trinity Bay, south of the line running from the entrance of Double Bayou to Umbrella Point. Dense concentrations of marine organisms have been documented in this area and are clogging TEDs, rendering the TEDs ineffective in expelling sea turtles from the shrimp nets as well as negatively impacting fishermen's catches.