A Sea Turtle's Struggle For Survival
Sea turtles truly are one of the most
graceful and beautiful animals of the sea. However,
they are one of the fastest declining endangered species.
University Putra Malaysia Associate Professor Dr. Chan
Eng Heng said since the sea turtle research unit was
formed in 1993, barely ten Leatherbacks had been sighted,
compared to 2000 Leatherbacks in the 1950's. In Sarawak
(an area of Malaysia) only 400 green turtles were spotted
compared to 4500 in the 1930's.
There are several reasons as to why these
numbers are falling. Numbers suggest that around 55,000
turtles in the US were killed in prawn trawl nets, and
21,000 turtles died in Japanese tuna log lines during
high sea operations. Another reason for the decline
is the exploitation of turtle eggs. These turtles feed
off of jellyfish, and boy do they love it! Because a
plastic bag can look like a jellyfish, they sometimes
eat plastic bags from human garbage thrown out at sea.
Some of these sea turtles experience what
is called a "false crawl" due to outside lighting
from coastal development. A false crawl is when sea
turtles come ashore to nest but get disturbed and can't
find a suitable site.
The Hawksbill turtle is being hunted for
the beautiful shells. Jewelry is made from their shells,
and leather is made from their hides. The Green turtle
population is lowered by commercial exploitation of
eggs and adults and beach disturbances. The Olive Ridley
turtles have been affected by the commercial harvest
of adults, incidental catch in shrimp trawls, and harvest
of eggs from nest beaches. Loggerheads have experienced
declination due to capture in trawls, loss of habitat
due to coastal development, and local exploitation.
Coastal development lights have disorientated nesting
females and hatchlings. They may head in the wrong direction
(inland) and end up in roadways resulting in death by
a automobiles. The Leatherbacks experience numerous
threats to their existence including: excessive harvesting
of their eggs, capture for food, oil, and shark bait,
incidental catch in shrimp trawls and squid nets, and
habitat disturbances.
"Mankind destroys sea turtle habitats
through anchoring, dredging, dynamiting and bottom trawling"
- Dr. Chan Eng Heng.
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