How Can I Help Sea Turtles Survive?

She digs the nest hole and lays her eggs. She will never see them again, never know if they survive, nor what her offspring look like. The deep, corrugated track she leaves in the sand trails out behind her as she slowly, exhaustedly, returns to the water.

The first time I saw a marine turtle making its way up the beach to nest was in 1990, at a place called Mon Repos in Queensland, Australia. I was awestruck. I felt as if I was watching a scene hundreds of millions of years old, that I was just present for a tiny moment in the vast history of this creature.

I was captivated. I spent the next ten years doing volunteer work and university study on these ancient creatures. I often think about the things I did and saw during this time and am always grateful for the experiences I had. To say that marine turtles have had a profound effect on my life is no understatement.

At present human activities are threatening all ocean going turtle species with extinction. This is an unacceptable situation and we need to be conscious of how we can help improve the outlook for sea turtles. There are things that we can do that can help, and there are also things we can not do that will help.

Let's have a look at some details.

Basic Life Cycle

To appreciate how serious the threats facing turtles are, it helps to have knowledge of the basic life cycle sea turtle facts. There are physical things and behaviours common to all sea turtle species. If we have a clear picture of the life cycle of marine turtles in general, we are in a much better position to understand what is happening and why.

Threats

The way of life lived by marine turtles has served them well for 220 million years. Today though, turtle populations all over the world are under pressure from many angles. The most dangerous threats are those that target the eggs. While the loss of adult turtles is never a good thing, destruction of egg nests pulls the rug out from under the population affected.

Harvesting of turtle eggs for food or other purposes has been on the increase as the world population has continued to climb.

Shrimp fishing used to cause the deaths of many turtles that were caught in the nets. In recent times, Turtle Excluding Devices (TEDs) have become mandatory in many countries

Human development is encroaching on nesting beaches. Increased human activity on the beaches drives away nesting females. Those hatchlings that do emerge may then be drawn toward artificial lighting and fail to make it to the water.

Hunting of juvenile and adult turtles is also a huge problem. Turtles may be hunted for meat, skin for leather, or for their shells. The Hawksbill turtle in particular is sought for its shell. This is where tortoise shell jewelry comes from.

Other problems include pollution in the form of plastic bags and tar balls, four-wheel driving on nesting beaches and additional predation of hatchlings by feral animals.

Species' Status

What state have these problems left the seven sea turtle populations in? Let's have a look at each.

Leatherback turtle

Green turtle

The Green turtle is a global wanderer and is found in all tropical regions. Unfortunately it has been hunted for skin, flesh, oil and shell and is now under threat of extinction.

This is also true of the distinctly different Black Turtle that nests on the West coast of the Americas.

Loggerhead turtle

The Loggerhead is another global traveller. It is best known for its huge head, the result of its diet of tough sea shells. Interestingly, it is the only turtle to nest on Cretan beaches and in Greece.

This species is also under threat of extinction.

Hawksbill turtle

The Hawksbill turtle is critically endangered due mainly to past interest in its shell for making jewelry. Significant rookeries still exist in some areas such as El Salvador, where research and conservation projects are also running.

Flatback turtle

The Flatback turtle is the only one that does not migrate. It is a native to the Australian continental shelf and is quite different to other hard shelled species.

Olive Ridley turtle

Kemps Ridley turtle

Conservation Efforts

Sea turtles have been taken for granted and exploited throughout human history. In the last half of the 20th century populations began to decline rapidly as shown by reduced numbers of nesting females.

This prompted many conservation efforts by both governments and Non Government Organizations (NGOs). These have focused on protecting nests and getting hatchlings into the water with as little predation as possible. Some work has also been done of headstarting hatchlings, though the effectiveness of this work is questioned.

Volunteer Conservation Work

Several sea turtle conservation and research programs use volunteer labor. Generally these programs require you to bring your own food and camping equipment, to get to the site yourself, work hard, and commit to at least two weeks. You need to be fit and able bodied, and very few of the programs allow children under 16 years of age to participate.

Evolution Of Marine Turtles

Marine turtles, including the marine forms, have a long and very interesting history. The current families of sea going turtles have been around since the late Cretaceous, which is about 70 million years of history.

For a long time the best known fossil marine turtle was Archelon. Recent discoveries have added more detail to the history of this fascinating order of reptiles. Read more about the evolution of turtles and tortoises.

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