The Endangerment of

Sea Turtles

Research Report
May 26th, 27th, & 28th
Iigo Montoya Barreiros

Sea turtles in some cultures are seen as easygoing, patient and wise, but because of
us, they have now become endangered, and each day their numbers lessen. Sea
turtles are beautiful animals, but humans are killing them all around the world.
Happily some people are trying to save the sea turtles, which are very important for
other animals in the ocean, so it is ideal to help preserve these beautiful marine
creatures. Humans should not kill sea turtles; they are very important for the ocean.
Turtles are becoming extinct all around the world, despite the fact that they harm
anyone. There are seven types of species of sea turtles, although four of them are in
immediate danger (Sea Turtle Conservancy). There is the green sea turtle and this
type of sea turtle eats sea algae. Then there is the leatherback (the biggest out of
them) which has a very delicate jaw; if they eat anything besides their normal diet
their jaw will break. Their diet is jellyfish, tunicates and soft body animals. Another
sea turtle is the hawksbill sea turtle. The hawksbill turtles have a narrow head so
that they can have their normal diet; and that is sponges, tunicates, shrimps and
squids. Also, there is the loggerhead sea turtle. The loggerhead has a hard jaw
because of their diet. Their diet consists of crabs, shrimps, jellyfish and vegetation.
Finally there is the Olive ridley this is one of the most endangered sea turtle . They
are one of the smallest sea turtles in the world. Their normal diet is similar to the
loggerhead but it has differences like mollusks and fishes. Sea turtles are an
amazing animals, but sadly we are killing them.
Sea turtles are becoming extinct because of our actions in the ocean. One of the
reasons that sea turtles are getting extinct is because of pollution(Sea Turtle
Conservancy). There are two ways that pollution can kill them; the first reason is
because some of the species eat jellyfish. For example, the leatherback and the
loggerhead are the two types of sea turtles that eat jellyfish. Unfortunately, many
times they they think that plastic that is polluting our ocean is a jellyfish. When this
happens, they end up eating or swallowing the plastic, they cannot breathe and they
pass away. Another way sea turtles die due to pollution is due to oil spills. If the oil
gets into the body of the sea turtle, they will get sick and sadly that will lead to death;
the worst part of it is that if the sea turtle has hatchlings in their stomach at the time
they get the oil in their body, they will get infected and will die. Sea turtles also get
killed because of net fishing (fishermans wwf). There are two ways that one could
look at net fishing. The first way is that net fishing is good and necessary for humans
because it is our way of catching food. Then the second way is that net fishing is
killing sea animals such as turtles and sharks. Obviously, this is the way humans
should think about net fishing and we as human beings should make a stop to it. Net
fishing is killing the sea turtles because they get trapped inside and cant get out. By
not being able to move and swim up to the surface, the turtle is not able to breathe
so they drown and die. Fishermans sometimes also kill them for money purposes,
since they can sell the skin for making accessories of all types that humans buy
(i.e. handbags, shoes, belts, etc.).
Another reason sea turtles are killed by fishermen as well as people that don't have
living resources that live on the beaches or in areas close to the beaches, are for
eating and survival purposes (david ross). Poor people many times kill them
because they dont have food and thats the only way they can survive. Turtle eggs

are not good for human health but humans dont stop eating sea turtle eggs because
apparently taste good and they stop hunger. Thats why humans are not stopping
eating turtle eggs. Lastly, sea turtles are damaged due to the actions that tourists
do. (centro ecologico Akumal) Sea turtles get a tumor called Flibropapilomtosis.
This tumor appears in the turtles due to several reasons. The first one is because
tourists tend to pollute the water on the beaches. Beach pollution, such as certain
sunscreens, pollute the ocean and this pollution will infect the sea turtle and tumors
will appear in their skin. Another reason why these tumors show up apart from ocean
pollution is due to the watching and swimming with the sea turtles. Tourists tend to
get too close to the sea turtles to watch them. If so, the turtles get very anxious.
Also tourists tend to get too close and in a vertical position which causes the sea
turtle not be able to escape and go up to the surface to breath. These moments of
anxiety will cause the sea turtles to get the tumor. These tumors will lead them to
death because they do not permit the sea turtles to have good mobility and
therefore, it doesnt let them swim or eat well. But at least there are some ways we
can prevent them from getting Flibropapilomtosis. They are; by using biodegradable
products for skin instead of chemical products, when you are watching the sea
turtles always be in an horizontal pose, by keeping three meters away from them so
that they dont get scared, by looking at the sea turtle for 2 minutes in groups of six
or less, by not circling the sea turtle because then he/she will get scared, and lastly
by not touching the sea turtle, the algae and the coral. Sea turtles are becoming
extinct because of our actions in the ocean, if we kill them all, that will make a big
damage in the environment and four us.
Sea turtles are an essential animal to the environment. Sea turtles are a very friendly
animal that are getting killed. They are really important to the food chain and the
ocean ecosystem . Green sea turtles keep the algae at level that its supposed to be
at. If sea turtles extinct a lot of fish will die and it will damage the food chain. Sea
turtles are important to the beach ecosystem because not all of the sea turtle
hatchlings survive. The ones that get trapped give a lot of nutrients to the beaches
around the world. If sea turtles go extinct, human kind will struggle to survive (sea
world). Humans use many resources from the ocean. If sea turtles extinct, we will
not be able to use these resources again. Humans also use beaches for fun
activities. If sea turtles die, the beaches will never be the same since sea turtles give
nutrients to the sand. Humans need to realize the ways in which sea turtles are
essential to our ecosystem.
At the Metropolitan School of Panama some children answered a survey about the
endangerment of sea turtles. All of them thought they are important. Here are the
results (survey).
1st question: Do you think sea turtles are becoming extinct? All of them said yes.
2nd question: After watching one video about how hatchlings get killed, the question
was that if they thought if something more needed to be done. All of them said yes.
3rd question: Why or why not? All of them gave realistic answers.
4rth question: Do you think sea turtles are important to the food chain? 21 of them
said yes and 5 said no.
5th question: Why or why not? They didnt really understand.
6th question: Would you volunteer to save them? And they all said yes

Sea turtles are getting extinct all around , but some people are starting to realize the
importance of these animals and they are coming up with solutions to save them.
Plenty of things are being done, but some people dont collaborate to save them.
Many organizations have been created to save the sea turtles. These organizations
are good for the sea turtles because it helps keeps them alive. They do a lot of
research about them. The research helps humans understand and find information
on their extinction. For example, these organizations are placing red lights in the
beaches so that the hatchlings can follow them and the moon light so that they can
find their way into the water. This is a measure to prevent the hatchlings from
following the beach hotel lights, since by following these lights they will not reach the
water and therefore they may get eaten or stepped on by humans. Organizations
also ask for donations (money) so that they can spend it on raising awareness on the
problems of sea turtle extinction. There is one organization called Sea shepherds
and what they do is if they see someone killing a marine animal, they will crash into
the boat and throw them cold water in order for them stop. All these things are
amazing but sometimes they dont really work. Putting the red lights is a very
intelligent idea but humans can not know where sea turtles are going to put their
hatchlings so sometimes it doesn't really work. As David Ross said We are not
going to be the ones saving them, the people that kill them are the ones that are
going to save them. So as much of all of these organisations try and try, they are not
going to stop completely problem. As much as all of the sea turtle organizations help,
you can do as much as they do. Everyone can volunteer to help the sea turtles. But
even better, you dont even need to pay to save them. You can just start right now.
Firstly if you have a house on the beach or something similar to a house on the
beach, just turn off the lights when you are not using them. Secondly, dont throw any
kind of stuff to the sea if it doesn't belong to the sea. Try to reduce the amount of
chemicals you use and prevent from reaching the sea. Sea turtles are an amazing
animal, thats why humans should save them.
Sea turtles are getting killed all around the world, and humans should stop it.
Humans are the cause of why the sea turtles are in danger of extinction. The danger
of getting ride off the sea turtles, is that it will produce changes in the ocean and
therefore in our ecosystem. Unfortunately some people think that killing the sea
turtles is not a real problem. We need to understand what a great concern this issue
is to the world. Organizations created for this purpose are doing actions for solving
this problem, but we can not only rely on these organizations. We all have put a little
bit of our effort into this problem, to make the world a better place.

Bibliography:
Shirley Binder, February,2015. One of the boss in MarViva.

Title: Information About Sea Turtles: Species of the World

Author:Sea Turtles Conservancy

Date: 1996-2015
Title:Sea Turtle Diet and eating habits
Author: Seaworld
Date: 2015
Title: WWF sea turtles
Author:WWF
Date: 1250-2015

Title: Information About Sea Turtles: Olive Ridley Sea

Author: Sea turtle Conservancy
Date: 1996-2015

Website Title: Green Sea Turtle - National Wildlife Federation

Article Title: Green Sea Turtle - National Wildlife Federation
Date Accessed: May 11, 2015

Website Title: MarineBio.org

Article Title: Leatherback Sea Turtles, Dermochelys coriacea
Date Accessed: May 11, 2015

Website Title: SEE Turtles

Article Title: Ocean Pollution
Date Accessed: May 11, 2015

Title: Information About Sea Turtles: Threats to Sea Turtles

Author: Sea turtle Conservancy

Date: 1996-2015

Title: Information About Sea Turtles: Why Care?

Author: Sea turtle Conservancy

Date: 1996-2015

Title: 5 Things You Can Do to Save Sea Turtles

Author: Defenders Of Wildlife

Website Title: Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire

Article Title: Are Sea Turtles Worth Saving?
Date Accessed: May 11, 2015

Website Title: TreeHugger

Article Title: 4,600 Sea Turtles Killed In US Fisheries Every Year -- But T[]
Date Accessed: May 11, 2015

Website Title: Sea Turtle Facts and Information

Article Title: Sea Turtle Facts and Information
Date Accessed: May 11, 2015

David Ross, Specialist, February