Oil-affected sea turtles won't be "incinerated alive"; BP, enviro groups, US Coast Guard

Reuters reports that an agreement between BP, environmental groups and the U.S. Coast Guard to burn off oil in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill won't burn sea turtles caught up in the oil.

Under the accord reached in talks on Thursday evening and Friday morning, the parties agreed to a plan allowing biologists or other trained wildlife observers to accompany oil-incineration vessels at sea to remove as many turtles as possible from designated areas before burning starts.

Private boat captains chartered for wildlife rescue missions in the Gulf said in affidavits filed with the lawsuit that young sea turtles tend to congregate among oil blobs floating in the water, apparently unable to distinguish between the oil and mats of seaweed that provide natural shelter on the surface of the Gulf.

The turtles are then presumably swept up and unable to escape when shrimp boats contracted for cleanup operations are used to drag fire-resistant booms to encircle the floating oil before it is set ablaze.

Read the full story: Deal struck to save turtles from Gulf oil burns

Photo from Tour de Turtles