Not that long ago, around 300 olive ridley turtles were found dead off the coast of Mexico. Authorites believe that the cause of death was most likely from ghost nets, which are fishing supplies left by people that weren’t retreived. Olive ridley turtles are small turtles that are up to 100 pounds in weight and live in warmer waters such as the southern Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Although, these sea turtles have a bigger population than other species of turtles they are inching closer and closer to becoming endangered along with their fellow species.
The main two problems behind this decline in population are the fishing industry (which includes ghost nets) and plastic pollution. According to a study led by Duke University, 250,000 loggerhead and 60,000 leatherback sea turtles are accidentally snared and killed by longline fishing every year. In order to help stop this, NOAA Fisheries Pascagoula Laboratory and the NOAA Fisheries Miami Laboratory conducted a study to test a new hook different from the traditional one. They found encounters with the leatherback and loggerhead turtles were reduced by 65 and 90 percent. They are currently working to use these new hooks to decrease the amount of turtle deaths.
This alone is a huge problem but the plastic that we’re continuously dumping into oceans is also hurting our sea creatures. A global study done by the University of Excreter found that over 1,000 turtles are dying each year after becoming tangled up in all the junk. Even worse, these turtles can mistake plastic bags and other plastic items for food. A 2015 study led by led by Qamar Schuyler of the University of Queensland estimated that around 52% of sea turtles have ingested have eaten plastic debris. In 2017, the Clean Seas Campaign was launched in order to spread awareness about our plastic problem.
Although these efforts to save our turtles and marine life are helping, they aren’t enough. We need to help out too and we can work harder to recycle our plastic items and support national/local efforts to ban plastic grocery bags and other single use plastics. We can make a difference. Let’s Do This!
—AK
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2018/08/endangered-olive-ridley-sea-turtles-dead-mexico-news/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sea-turtles-dead-mexico-fishing-net_us_5b86400fe4b0cf7b00304b8e
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/o/olive-ridley-sea-turtle/
Information About Sea Turtles: Threats from Commercial Longline Fisheries
https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/fatal-attraction-turtles-and-plastic