Shrimping may be back to life in the Gulf. But, endangered sea turtles remain in the the crosshairs. And, this time, environmentalists aren't blaming BP. More than 1,400 turtles have washed ashore injured or dead so far this year, but the shellshock could have been prevented if shrimp boats equipped their nets with "turtle excluder devices," which are attached to trawling nets and allow turtles an escape route if they get caught. A group of conservation orgs filed for an injuction today asking that NOAA's Marine Fisheries Service force all boats to use the devices. 

“Sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico are still reeling from the impacts of last year’s oil spill, and they simply can’t withstand the chronic threat of drowning in shrimp nets,” said Jacyln Lopez, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, a party to the suit. “The government’s own data show that record numbers of sea turtles have perished in the Gulf of Mexico this year, yet the Fisheries Service has not taken protective measures to prevent sea turtles from dying."

The feds have regulations surrounding the turtle exclusion devices in place, such as boat inspections. But the environmental groups say there is lax enforcement, which has allowed the sea turtle deaths to mount. In September, the Fisheries Service divided the loggerhead sea turtle species into nine different groups. The feds said the move was designed to help focus on specific threats that turtles in different parts of the world face. For some turtle populations, the change meant the turtles now had an increased threat level. Last year, the feds said they would reassess the impact of the fishing industry on sea turtles, but have yet to finish their study.