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Sea turtles are rapidly nearing extinction as the result of human activities.
Today, most, if not all, are threatened with extinction world wide. To save these unique and beautiful animals,
we must protect them from human actions, including ocean activities, that threaten their lives.
Hunting is still one of the greatest threats,
despite international hunting and import bans.
One of these reasons, and a major reason world wide, is threats to
nesting beaches. The most serious threat to turtles is increased human
presence on beaches, especially at night. Where ever humans gather at night, lights can be found. Hatchlings
instinctively follow light reflected off the water to find their way to the ocean. However,
artificial lights confuse the babies, drawing them inland to their deaths. And the great
demand for housing and resorts on beaches is encroaching on sites that have been used for
nesting for millennia, also driving nesting females to less suitable beaches and/or causing egg laying to be
delayed.
But humans damage nesting areas in other ways,
as well. Recreational equipment can compact sand, making it difficult for the one-ounce
hatchlings to dig their way out of nests. Or the nest itself can be damaged. Nests and beaches
are also damaged by beach armoring--the building of jetties, groins, and sea walls;
And it's not just nesting beaches degradation that
threatens marine sea turtle survival. Garbage in the oceans is a huge hazard. Especially the
ingestion of plastic. While most humans would not consider plastic to be food, to a Leatherback
Sea Turtle, plastic floating on the ocean resembles their primary food source--jellyfish. The
plastic then obstructs stomachs and intestines, causing the turtles to literally slowly starve to
death. Moreover, the plastics slowly release toxins into the turtles' blood streams, increasing
its agony. Tar balls from oil spills have also been ingested by turtles, slowly--and
painfully--killing the animal.
Another threat marine sea turtles face in the oceans and
coastal waters is commercial fishing. More than 10,000 turtles die every year when caught in
commercial shrimp fisher nets. And thousands more turtles die when caught in gill nets, drift nets,
long lines, and discarded fishing gear. And, although turtles can normally remain underwater
without breathing for up to two hours when resting, they quickly wear themselves out, reducing
their oxygen supply in their struggle for freedom, and drown.
Finally, a more recent threat is the disease
fibropapilloma. At this time, not much is known about this fatal disease, although it was first
recorded in the 1930s. However, the disease is spreading rapidly through the green sea turtle population,
We'd like to thank all of the above-listed sites, as well as those that went off
the 'Net since this article was written in 1997, for being such excellent sources of information. All were used in the preparation of this report.
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Sea turtles have long been hunted for a variety of
purposes. Their meat and eggs are used for food, their shells for jewelry and skin for leather
products, and their oil for perfume and cosmetics. At one time, sea turtle populations numbered in
the millions, but today, populations range from a few thousand of one species, to several
hundred thousand of another. And numbers continue to decline for a variety of reasons, in addition to human predation.
beach nourishment--adding sand to eroding beaches; and beach erosion. Building jetties, groins, and sea walls causes
abnormal beach erosion and buildup in some areas, while restricting the normal process in the
protected area. Beach nourishment buries nests and/or disturbs nesting activity, and the heavy
equipment packs the sand, making it difficult for the females to dig nests, and the hatchlings to dig
out. And beach erosion, while a normal process, is abnormally hastened by these human interferences.
and recently began spreading to other species, as well. And it is a disease not isolated to a particular
region, but has been recorded in Hawaii, Florida, and Australia. Fibropapilloma causes the growth of
large, bulbous tumors that grow primarily on the skin, but can also appear between scales and scutes,
in the mouth, on the eyes, and on internal organs. The tumors continue to grow in numbers and size,
eventually causing the turtle's death. A survey conducted in 1991 in Hawaii indicated that more than 50%
of the sea turtle population in Kaneohe Bay on the island of Oahu and 36% of the population off
Molokai were infected with the deadly disease.
