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Put Life-Saving Turtle Excluder Devices on Boats In The Gulf

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Sponsor: Free The Ocean

Most Gulf shrimp boats are legally exempt from the one device proven to keep sea turtles alive.

A sea turtle surfaces for air in open ocean water, with a large white boat and distant mountains visible in the background.

Most Gulf shrimp skimmer trawl boats are not required to carry a device proven to keep sea turtles alive. The reason is a federal exemption — and it covers the majority of the fleet.

Turtle excluder devices, or TEDs, are trapdoor mechanisms fitted inside trawl nets. When a sea turtle enters the net, the TED deflects the animal out through an opening to safety. The shrimp continue through. NOAA Fisheries has linked TED adoption to measurable population recovery in loggerhead and Kemp's ridley sea turtles.5 Research shows that even minor adjustments to TED design can significantly reduce turtle encounters in Gulf waters.6 The technology works.

Why Most of the Fleet Is Still Exempt

Federal rules require TEDs on larger shrimp trawl vessels — but skimmer trawls operated by boats under 40 feet are exempt.4 Skimmer trawls use rigid frames to hold their nets open and operate in the shallow nearshore waters where sea turtles are most concentrated. Those waters are also critical habitat for juvenile turtles. That's exactly where the exemption applies.

In April 2021, NOAA issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to consider extending TED requirements to smaller skimmer vessels.3 More than five years later, there is no final rule. Smaller boats continue to operate without TEDs in waters where turtle interactions are most frequent.

A Federal Court Has Ruled — and the Clock Is Running

In September 2026, a federal appeals court ruled that existing protections for sea turtles caught in Gulf skimmer trawls are legally inadequate.1,2 The court found that NOAA's failure to require TEDs on smaller vessels leaves protected species at unacceptable risk. The ruling reinforces the agency's legal obligation to move from a preliminary notice to a binding regulation.7

All seven sea turtle species in U.S. waters are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Bycatch in shrimp trawls is one of the leading human-caused threats to their survival. The exemption for smaller skimmer vessels means that an effective, proven solution is already deployed on part of the fleet — just not on the part that operates where turtles are most at risk.

What Needs to Happen

NOAA Fisheries has the authority to close this loophole now. The agency can initiate a formal proposed rule requiring TEDs across all Gulf skimmer trawl vessels, regardless of boat length. A court has found the current framework legally insufficient. The science supports action. The technology exists. What's missing is a rule that applies to the whole fleet.

Sea turtles cannot wait another five years for a regulation that should have followed years ago.

Sign the petition today and demand that NOAA Fisheries stop delaying — and start a formal rulemaking to require turtle excluder devices on all Gulf skimmer trawl vessels, closing the loophole that has left most of the fleet unaccountable for sea turtle deaths for far too long.

More on this issue:

  1. Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Biological Diversity (1 September 2026), "Appeals Court Protects Imperiled Sea Turtles from Drowning in Fishing Nets."
  2. Laurel Irvine, Turtle Island Restoration Network (seaturtles.org) (1 September 2026), "U.S. Appeals Court Rules to Protect Imperiled Sea Turtles from Drowning in Fishing Nets."
  3. NOAA Fisheries, NOAA Fisheries (22 April 2021), "NOAA Fisheries Announces an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Consider the Use of Turtle Excluder Devices by Skimmer Trawl Vessels Less than 40 feet in Length in the Southeastern U.S. Shrimp Fisheries."
  4. NOAA Fisheries, NOAA Fisheries (16 August 2024), "Turtle Excluder Device Regulations."
  5. NOAA Fisheries, NOAA Fisheries (26 November 2025), "Gearing Up: Turtle Excluder Devices Strengthen Fisheries and Help Recover Sea Turtle Populations."
  6. NOAA Fisheries, NOAA Fisheries (18 September 2025), "Small Modifications to Turtle Excluder Devices Have Big Impacts for Gulf Sea Turtles."
  7. Undercurrent News, Undercurrent News (3 September 2026), "US appeals court upholds protection rule for sea turtles."

The Petition

To the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA Fisheries), United States Department of Commerce,

We write to urge NOAA Fisheries to initiate a formal proposed rulemaking requiring turtle excluder devices (TEDs) on all Gulf of Mexico shrimp skimmer trawl vessels, including those under 40 feet in length — a class of boats currently exempt from TED requirements despite accounting for the majority of the skimmer fleet.

The case for closing this loophole is both scientifically and legally clear. Skimmer trawls operate in shallow nearshore waters that serve as critical habitat for juvenile sea turtles. Without TEDs, turtles that enter these nets can drown before they are retrieved. All seven sea turtle species present in U.S. waters carry federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, yet the exemption for smaller skimmer vessels leaves a significant portion of the fleet free to operate without the one mechanism proven to reduce turtle mortality in trawl gear.

NOAA Fisheries' own research confirms that TEDs work — not only in principle, but at the population level, with documented links between TED adoption and recovery trends in loggerhead and Kemp's ridley sea turtles. Even minor design refinements have been shown to substantially reduce turtle interactions in Gulf fisheries. The technology is available. It is already deployed on part of the fleet. What is missing is a binding rule that extends its use to the vessels operating where turtle encounters are most frequent.

In April 2021, NOAA issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to explore this exact question. More than five years have passed without a final rule. In September 2026, a federal appeals court ruled that existing protections for sea turtles in Gulf skimmer trawl fisheries are legally inadequate, finding that the agency's failure to require TEDs on smaller vessels leaves imperiled species at unacceptable risk. That ruling removes any remaining ambiguity about the agency's obligation to act.

Sea turtles have navigated these waters for millions of years. They are not incidental to this ecosystem — they are part of its foundation. Allowing preventable drowning deaths to continue, when an effective solution exists and a court has demanded stronger action, is a failure of both law and stewardship. We ask that NOAA Fisheries move without further delay from preliminary notice to formal rulemaking, requiring TEDs across the full Gulf skimmer trawl fleet.

Taking this step will help secure a healthier ocean and a better future for all.

Sincerely,

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