Shrimpers all along the Gulf coast say they'll go out of business unless Congress - led by Sen. Howell Heflin (D., Ala.) - stops regulations that are designed to keep turtles from drowning in shrimping nets.
"I was able to gain (Heflin's) attention by showing him we would lose the shrimping industry in the Gulf of Mexico," said John Ray Nelson, who runs the large Bon Secour Fisheries near Mobile, Ala.
But environmentalists warn that sea turtles - added to the government's Endangered Species List in 1978 - could soon be extinct unless the protections first discussed a decade ago are finally enacted.
Most endangered is the smallest of the sea turtles, given the unlikely name of Kemp's ridley for reasons that even experts can't trace. At maturity a Kemp's ridley reaches about 30 pounds. It is considered one of the dozen most endangered species in the world.
Spring through fall, the government sends experts to a 20-mile stretch of Mexican beach south of Brownsville, Texas, that is the only known nesting area of Kemp's ridley.
Mexican marines, armed with semi-automatic rifles and subsidized by the U.S. government, patrol the beach to stop local residents from eating the turtle eggs.
Last year was considered a tremendous success because 655 females laid eggs, up from 549 the year before.
To protect the young turtles, scientists have developed devices called TEDs, or turtle excluder devices. Pulled behind shrimp boats, TEDs are supposed to keep the turtles from being scooped up in their nets.
But shrimpers have strenuously resisted TEDs, contending that they cut catches drastically. They also say that beachfront development and pollution, especially plastic bags and holders that turtles eat by mistake, are greater threats.
"It isn't we don't want to save turtles. We got nothing against them," said Tee John Mialjevich, head of the Louisiana-based Concerned Shrimpers of America, formed to oppose TEDs.
Government experts, though, contend that recent models of TEDs put little strain on shrimpers. "It's like putting your seatbelt on," said Chuck Orevetz, head of the National Marine Fisheries Service's endangered species program.
After three years of court fights and dozens of hearings, rules requiring TEDs were set to go into effect. Then, last October, Heflin stepped in and attached an amendment to the Endangered Species Reauthorization Act, requiring a new series of tests by the National Academy of Sciences and delaying the TEDs until May 1 - tomorrow.
Now, Heflin has written Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher, contending that the TEDs should be delayed again until the new tests are complete, and he has gotten an agreement from Mosbacher that only warnings will be issued during the first 60 days the regulations are in effect.
Although environmentalists and government scientists say there's little mystery left about what is killing the turtles, Heflin and the shrimpers question much of the evidence, even the raw statistics on the relatively high estimated number of turtles killed.
"If we caught that many each year, it wouldn't be an endangered species," Nelson said.
