OCEANA'S CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT SEA TURTLES
Sea turtles have been swimming the world's oceans for more than 100 million years, persisting through natural predators, climatic events and even the mass dinosaur extinction. However, their existence on Earth is now in jeopardy from human threats that are proving to be too much for turtle populations to handle. Sea turtle populations have declined all over the world as humans push them to the brink of extinction.
With the advent of new gear and boat technologies, fishing has become one of the greatest sources of mortality to sea turtles around the globe. Each of the six sea turtle species found in United States waters is listed as either ‘Endangered' or ‘Threatened' under the Endangered Species Act - which means that they may go extinct in the foreseeable future.
Even with protection under the Endangered Species Act, longlines, trawls, gill nets, dredges and other types of fishing gear in and around United States waters kill thousands of turtles and injure even more each year. Other human, or ‘anthropogenic,' threats to turtles include ingestion of or entanglement in marine debris, pollution, coastal development, poaching, vessel strikes, climate change and predation by invasive species.
For decades sea turtle conservation has focused on promoting gear modifications in key fisheries and protecting sea turtle nesting habitats. The efforts have begun to pay off. Some sea turtle populations appear to be in the beginning stages of recovery. For other populations,though the outlook is grim, and more proactive government policies are urgently needed.
It is not too late to get turtles off the hook - but we need to act fast!
