Victory for Endangered Sea Turtles Along Florida Coast

A long struggle seeking protections for endangered sea turtle nesting areas has finally ended as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) that guards wildlife and could potentially serve as a model for future emergency sea wall construction statewide, environmentalists said today.

For over five years, the environmental law firm Earthjustice, representing the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, has been involved in negotiations with Indian River County in eastern Florida and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to approve an agreement that protects turtle nesting areas from incidental harm due to the construction of illegal emergency sea walls. The county submitted a habitat conservation plan that affects nesting areas for threatened or endangered sea turtle species, including loggerhead, leatherback, hawksbill and green turtles.

“The Habitat Conservation Plan will require Florida and its coastal residents to come to terms with how sea walls must be regulated to protect sea turtles,” said David Godfrey, executive director of the Caribbean Conservation Corporation. “Florida’s east coast beaches provide nesting habitat for the world’s largest remaining population of threatened loggerhead turtles, as well as globally important populations of endangered green and leatherback turtles. For these species to survive, Florida must protect its sea turtle nesting beaches. This HCP takes a major step in that direction, while also providing options for homeowners faced with severe erosion from the recent hurricanes.”

The conservation plan includes