MyGreenClick - Earth Day Everyday

Sea Turtles

Swirling in a Warming World of Plastic

by Meredith Simonds

You’d think if just one sea turtle were laying 150 to 200 eggs four to seven times in one nesting season – for 50 years straight – its population would be thriving.

Not the case. Laid by the mother in a 15- to 20-inch deep hole in sand on the beach, and left to incubate for two months, only a small percentage of baby sea turtles survive.

Some babies don’t hatch. Others are scooped up by birds, foxes and crabs on their out to sea as they instinctively follow the reflection of the sun or moon on the water. Others are eaten by fish and sharks once they do reach their destination. Factor in global warming, and the sea turtle population is in even bigger trouble.

Temperature controls the sex of sea turtles as they develop in the shell, and if it gets too hot, the scales could tip disproportionately toward one sex or another. Higher temps also means fewer successful hatchings. And as sea levels rise, and beaches erode, the sea turtles’ nesting areas will shrink in some places, disappearing in others – a big problem, as adults typically nest each season in the exact some spot where they were born.

For obvious reasons, the lives of the babies who survive are critical to the survival of the seven sea turtle species. Found in all of the oceans except the Arctic, the sea turtle’s average lifespan is 80 years. They mature by the age of 30 when they start nesting, laying many thousands of eggs over the course of their lifetime.

Already threatened by illegal hunting for their meat and eggs, adult sea turtles are further endangered by what’s happening to their environment. Corals are an essential feeding habitat, so as the corals die off from coral bleaching caused by warmer ocean temperatures, a critical food source for the sea turtle dies off with it. Global warming also causes changes in ocean currents, which inevitably changes how they migrate and find food as well.

Yet the most immediate danger to sea turtles has nothing to do with global warming at all. It has to do with the 46,000 pieces of plastic debris for every square mile of our oceans. Sea turtles often mistake plastic soda rings and plastic bags for the jellyfish that are a staple of their diet. This plastic gets into their intestines, prevents proper absorption of nutrients and they ultimately die.

If you want to help save the sea turtle:

1) Adopt a Sea Turtle out of global warming through the World Wildlife Fund, your gift going toward this non-profit’s worldwide effort to save them.

2) Say no to plastic. Remember to use your reusable shopping bags – if you forget them, ask for paper instead. Use durable, refillable water bottles. And if you must use plastic, dispose of it responsibly so that your trash doesn’t join the plastic bag island twice the size of Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean.

Comments

WOW. Thank you for the informative article.

So sad.

DrippingInColorDotCom - 28 Sep, 2008 - 17:57:02
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Umm ok i will help save the sea Turtles.I think sea turtles are the best water animals ever!

cayson - 29 Sep, 2008 - 21:39:51
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