Every year more than 50,000 sea turtles are killed by shrimp trawling nets in the Southeastern waters of the United States even though there is a simple solution that could significantly reduce this number! The President and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration should take this urgent action to save sea turtles' lives. Please sign our petition if you agree action must be taken immediately.

Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) installed in shrimp trawl nets can save almost all of the sea turtles caught, while also benefiting the U.S. shrimp fishery and protecting fish stocks for the future. Currently, NOAA Fisheries requires that only certain shrimp trawls in the Southeast region use TEDs, which are proven to be 97 percent effective at saving sea turtles. By requiring new and improved TEDs on all shrimp trawls, however, thousands more can be saved and millions of pounds of "bycatch" fish will also be saved rather than thrown away.

Despite readily available solutions, no fishery-wide TED requirement has been enacted, and that's why we urge President Obama to take action by establishing a requirement for all shrimp trawls to use a TED and to transition those that already use TEDs to the improved design. New scientific studies indicate that reducing the spaces between the bars of a TED by just 1 inch would significantly decrease finfish bycatch by over 55 million pounds.  Making this change will bring us one step closer to being able to say, without hesitation, that all U.S. caught wild shrimp is a good choice.

Of the seven species of sea turtles living in our oceans, all are listed as endangered or threatened. By taking these actions, we can save thousands of sea turtles and fish each year and expand the role of the United States as a leader in fishery management.

We're teaming up with Discovery Channel's Racing Extinction to tell President Obama to require TEDs in all shrimp trawl nets. Please sign our petition so we can save thousands of sea turtles every year.