A Sea Turtle's Struggle For Survival - Page 2

Here are some measures that have been taken to help reduce the decline of the sea turtle population in southeast Asia. The state of Sabah, through the Sabah parks Board of Trustees, has entered into a bilateral conservation and management agreement with the neighboring Philippines to establish a Turtle Islands Heritage Protected Area (TIHPA) encompassing the islands where large numbers of turtles have been found to nest.

Turtle Excluder Devices (TED) is a device that can be installed on shrimping boats. They are a cheap proven technology that has been shown to reduce sea turtle mortality by more than 97%. These TED's are required by law on all US shrimping boats. Unfortunately some shrimp fishermen disable their TEDs because they believe the TEDs reduce their shrimp catch. This may be a contributing factor in the grim reality that there are still large numbers of dead sea turtles washing up on US shores.

All of the sea turtles species are protected under Appendix I of the Convention on International trade In Endangered species (CITES).

If you find an adult sea turtle or hatchling, leave it alone. Report the turtle if it is in a dangerous situation (i.e. in a roadway or parking lot) to the Sea Turtle Hotline. Report all sea turtles that are stranded, injured, are apparently unhealthy, or dead. If the turtle has not moved for over 30 minutes, report as well. The Sea Turtle Hotline: 1 (954) 328-0580, or Environmental Complaints and Emergency Response: 1 (954) 519-1499.

"The turtles have ecological values which we cannot ignore. They help keep the balance of the ecosystem as well as to cycle nutrients by transporting the substances from rich feeding grounds to poor nutrient nesting sites" - Dr. Chan Eng Heng.

 

Written by: Taryn - AllTurtles Webmaster
www.allturtles.com

The information in this article was derived from information gather from the Internet.

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