Endangered Sea Turtles

Sea turtles are becoming more and more endangered as time goes on and is something that really needs to be changed. There are seven species of sea turtle and they are all either endangered or critically endangered. Millions of sea turtles used to inhabit the sea now only a fraction of them are still around. Humans are partly the cause of this because we hunt them for food and profit. It is unbelievable that people can kill such beautiful creatures just for their personal benefit. Humans are not the only reason sea turtles are facing extinction, but we are the main reason. Humans really should not be part of the problem in the first place.

Sea turtles face a lot of life or death obstacles from the second they are born. Even before they are born the eggs have a chance of being destroyed by ants or sea crabs. After they hatch they have to make their way into the sea where birds, crabs, and other predators have a chance of eating them. Sadly only one hatchling out of thousands reaches adulthood. After reaching adulthood and having a hard shell they are almost immune to predators.

There are three critically endangered sea turtle species. The first is the largest of the all sea turtle species which is the Leatherback. The Leatherback is found in the open ocean and is being threatened greatly by commercial fishing and pollution. The second critically endangered turtle is the Kemp's Ridley. This is the smallest of the sea turtles and is also the most endangered of them all. Hopefully conservationists can do enough to save this species. The Hawksbill is also critically endangered and has really been prized by humans for its beautiful shell. This turtle has been exploited for its use in jewelry for quite sometime and is prohibited through international trade. The Green turtle is an endangered species and was once sought after for its fat and was a delicacy in Europe. They would make green turtle soup with these poor creatures. Trading them is now illegal but they are still consumed by coastal people. The Olive Ridley is another endangered turtle that performs one of nature's great spectacles. The Olive Ridley's come to shore simultaneously by hundreds and thousands to nest. This spectacle is known as arribadas. They are the most abundant of all sea turtles but still remain endangered. The Loggerhead turtle travels thousands of miles, so its habitat is pretty widespread. They are affected greatly from incidental capture in fisheries. The last of the sea turtles is the Flatback sea turtle that is only found along the northern coast of Australia. This turtle is affected by capture, harvesting of eggs, and destruction of beaches where they nest.

Around the world many countries still harvest sea turtle eggs for consumption. Most of these countries prohibit taking eggs but the enforcement is not strong enough. Sea turtles are killed for meat and also sold for jewelry in these countries. In the Gulf of Mexico and West Atlantic coast there are a large number of sea turtles, but there is also a ton of commercial fishing occurring in those areas. With that said there are thousands of sea turtles getting caught in fishing nets every year. This is probably the number one cause for sea turtle deaths world wide. The United States acted on this though, by creating Turtle Excluder Devices. These devices work by only allowing small creatures through the net and larger creatures end up hitting bars and are basically ejected from the entrapment. In the United States these devices are required on every shrimp boat, but sadly not all fishermen follow the law and sea turtles continue to die from entrapments.

The next problem that causes sea turtles to die can easily be stopped. This simply has to do with people throwing away their trash in a place that it should not be thrown. Thousands of sea turtles would be saved every year if everyone would just so the right thing and put their trash in a recycle can or trash can. Sea turtles have been killed eating or getting tangled in a variety of human trash and debris. In particular trash bags kill sea turtles because they can not tell the difference between jellyfish and the white plastic bag. The large leatherback in particular can not tell the difference and sadly dies frequently from this.

Sea turtle hatchlings are now having trouble finding their way to the sea because of all the lights from buildings that are built on the coast. They get disoriented when they are born and will wander in the wrong way away from the sea. This leads them to predators that live inland or will even cause the turtle to become dehydrated and die. Humans are also building coastal armoring that is blocking female turtles from reaching a suitable nesting habitat. This is a severe problem in Florida where they have many coastal rock elevations and sand bags. Where all this beach development is occurring thousands of sea turtles are trying to nest. Beach dredging is also having a direct effect on sea turtle's trying to nest. If the sand is too impacted or is drastically different from native beach sediment, the mother will have trouble creating the nest.

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