Sea Turtle Conservation; Restrictions Applicable to Shrimp Trawl Activities; Leatherback Conservation Zone

This final rule establishes all inshore and offshore waters from Cape Canaveral, FL (28 deg.24.6' N. lat.) to the North Carolina- Virginia border (36 deg.30.5' N. lat.) as the leatherback conservation zone and provides for short-term closures of areas in that zone when high abundance levels of leatherback turtles are documented. Upon such documentation, NMFS will prohibit, in the closed areas, fishing by any shrimp trawler required to have a turtle excluder device (TED) installed in each net that is rigged for fishing, unless the TED installed is specified in the regulations as having an escape opening large enough to exclude leatherback turtles. This rule is necessary to reduce mortality of endangered leatherback sea turtles incidentally captured in shrimp trawls.