The international non-profit suggests six ways to stem the decline of the world's sea turtles
All seven species of sea turtles are arguably among the most endangered animals on Earth, threatened by longline fishing, habitat destruction, and hunting. It is therefore with great urgency that Earthwatch Institute, the international organization engaging people in science, celebrates World Turtle Day on May 23rd.
World Turtle Day was initiated in 2000 by American Tortoise Rescue, a California-based tortoise research and conservation group. The day is promoted annually by the Humane Society of the United States as a time to bring attention to turtle conservation issues and to highlight ways individuals can protect these endearing reptiles.
"Pacific leatherbacks currently face an annual mortality rate of up to 30 percent," said Dr. Frank Paladino, a turtle researcher at Indiana-Purdue University principal investigator of Earthwatch's Costa Rican Sea Turtles project. "That rate is clearly unsustainable, and without dramatic intervention we can expect to see them disappear in as soon as a decade."
It is precisely these kinds of challenges that the Earthwatch model of participant funding was designed to meet. Earthwatch volunteers give sea turtle researchers the labor force to thoroughly monitor the nesting activities and productivity of sea turtles while discouraging egg-poachers along stretches of prime nesting habitat.
Earthwatch has sent more than 3,500 volunteers and $2.5 million in funding into the field with turtle researchers over the past 28 years. Together they have investigated myriad aspects of the lives of five marine turtle species, benefiting their effective conservation, and catalyzed the creation of two protected areas for nesting leatherback turtles: Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge on St. Croix, U.S.V.I., and Las Baulas National Park, Costa Rica.
"Our leatherback turtle project in the U.S. Virgin Islands has been in operation for 22 years, involving 1,200 volunteers who walked a cumulative 90,000 miles in beach patrols," said Dr. Daniela Maldini, director of research at Earthwatch. "This has resulted in nearly 150,000 hatchlings reaching the sea, which would otherwise have died, as well as a massive increase in public awareness and visitor numbers."
On nesting beaches around the world, Earthwatch teams have substantially reduced or eliminated poaching, educated hundreds of tourists and local people about sea turtle conservation, inspired community involvement, and moved hundreds of erosion-prone nests to safe hatcheries. Earthwatch volunteers' all-night beach patrols are crucial in determining the productivity of sea turtle nests, inter-nesting interval, and beach fidelity, all information crucial to tracking populations and assessing conservation needs.
"Right now, Earthwatch-supported scientists and volunteers are working to conserve three species of endangered turtles, the leatherback, green, and hawksbill, through projects in six countries," said Maldini. "Earthwatch will continue to support projects exploring the population biology of sea turtles around the world, projects that in many cases spell the difference between survival and extinction for some turtle populations."
For more information on how you can get involved in turtle conservation read more about the following Earthwatch projects:
Costa Rican Sea Turtles
Hawksbill Turtles of the Great Barrier Reefa>
Saving the Leatherback Turtle
Trinidad's Leatherback Sea Turtles
Trinidad's Leatherback Sea Turtles
Earthwatch Institute is an international nonprofit organization that supports scientific field research by offering members of the public unique opportunities to work alongside leading field scientists and researchers. Earthwatch's mission is to engage people worldwide in scientific field research and education to promote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable environment.