Coastal Georgia Right Whale, Sea Turtle, and Horseshoe Crab Protection

We talk with Catherine Ridley, VP of One Hundred Miles, about wildlife protection efforts in coastal Georgia, focusing on the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale and Loggerhead Sea Turtles who breed here and are at risk due to fatal ship strikes, fishing gear entanglements, dredging, and noise and light pollution, as well as discussing ancient Horseshoe Crabs, who are especially under threat lately by pharmaceutical industries who are capturing (kidnapping) hundreds of thousands of them and draining them of their blue blood, despite a synthetic substance that serves the same medical purpose without the massive animal exploitation. 

In this 27-minute interview with In Tune to Nature host Carrie Freeman, Catherine Ridley discusses policy solutions such as zones for slower ship speeds, beach lighting ordinances, dredging bans during breeding season, and synthetic alternatives to horseshoe crab blood, all of which would save animal lives if we made them and our ecosystem health a priority. Catherine urges civic engagement and for us to get passionate and speak up.

See the Horseshoe Crab Recovery Coalition that has action items to ban the mass exploitation https://hscrabrecovery.org/

See action items for all coastal species at One Hundred Miles' page on wildlife https://onehundredmiles.org/wildlife/  and you can join their email action item list here https://onehundredmiles.org/join-mailing-list/ 

In Tune to Nature is a weekly show airing on Wednesdays from 6:30-7pm EST on Atlanta indie station WRFG (Radio Free Georgia) 89.3FM hosted by Carrie Freeman or Melody Paris. Please consider donating to support this 50plus-year old independent, progressive, noncommercial Atlanta radio station at www.wrfg.org 

Take care of yourself and others, including other species, like the individuals who live along our coasts.

Photo credit at horseshoe crab pharmaceutical facility: Ariane Mueller