Loggerhead sea turtles gain protection in Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico

WASHINGTON – Across 685 miles of beaches from North Carolina to Mississippi, loggerhead sea turtles now swim in federally protected waters.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday designated those coastlines, as well as 300,000 square miles in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, as a critical habitat for this endangered turtle species, the largest federal protection of its kind. Already afforded several protections as an endangered species, the turtle is now further protected because the critical-habitat classification limits how federal agencies can use the region.

Before shipping or building in a critical habitat, federal agencies must consult with NOAA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure that the project doesn’t remove or mar the features necessary for the species’ survival.

Loggerhead turtles use 1,531 miles of beaches in the United States, yet some of the coastal areas included in the critical habitat aren’t currently home to the species. Including these unoccupied areas is a prospective approach, said Amanda Keledjian, a marine biologist at Oceana, an ocean conservation organization.