The Nation - News from July 23, 1989

Several hundred shrimp boats, some flying the skull and crossbones, blocked major channels along the Texas and Louisiana coast to protest a law requiring the use of turtle excluder devices in shrimp nets. Shrimpers set up blockades in channels near Galveston, Port Aransas and Freeport, Tex., and Cameron, La. One protester in Cameron rammed an offshore vessel that tried to run the blockade, and in Galveston a shrimper and a 600-foot tanker collided, but in both cases, damage was minor and there were no injuries, the Coast Guard said. Commerce Secretary Robert A. Mosbacher has ordered the Coast Guard to enforce use of the devices, which are designed to keep shrimp in nets while allowing larger objects such as environmentally endangered sea turtles to escape.