The Turtles vs Shrimp Dilemma: Conservation in Conflict

This Element is an excerpt from Shrimp: The Endless Quest for Pink Gold (ISBN: 9780137009725) by Jack and Anne Rudloe. Available in print and digital formats.

Inside one of this generation’s greatest environmental wars: Can endangered turtles and endangered shrimpers both survive?

The great ponderous sea turtle has become a symbol of the world’s environmental conflict, of uncaring pollution and humans’ disregard for other forms of life. They drown in our fishing nets, are sucked up by dredges, ground into turtle burger, chopped up by boat propellers, and blown to bits when obsolete oil rigs are detonated....