America's Cup turtle problem poses serious "ethical dilemmas" environmental groups war

QUOTE-UNQUOTE: "In preparation for a period of intense "marine traffic," caused by the arrival of a fleet of 50-foot catamarans for the upcoming America's Cup, various local authorities are temporarily relocating the growing number of sea turtles that inhabit Bermuda's near-shore waters." –Miles Dilworth writing in The Telegraph (GBR) on 12 May. Full story.

OK, so this story has been making the rounds for a week or so, but as I mentioned in a post yesterday evening about ETNZ's "rudder failure" in BDA on Monday, since then speculation on the internet and in AC circles has gone off the charts that it was caused by a turtle strike not structural failure.

Sail-World.com's Richard Gladwell has reported that other teams have had turtle strikes. As far as we know it's all just speculation, but one can attest to the cover-up that went on in San Francisco during the 2013 Cup to keep from the media and general public from learning that the teams were having not just fish encounters, but mammal strikes. More than once ACEA's PR team went into crisis mode expecting such a strike to go viral. When it didn't we all breathed a collective sigh of relief and carried on with our fingers crossed.

No surprise that the BDA government is trying to move the turtles. But talk about an unenviable if not impossible task.

Photo: Audobon Nature Institute via The Telegraph.