Save the Olive Ridley Sea Turtle!

 Recovery plans find ways to help recover and or protect endangered species. Recovery plans are prepared by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and obtain assistance from recovery teams, state agencies, and other services. This recovery plan for the Olive Ridely Sea Turtle was made by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It details the goals that must be met and the steps that must be taken in order to ‘delist’ the Olive Ridley or to take it off the endangered species list.

Some steps and goals the Recovery Plan outlines are:

 

Goal: The recovery goal is to delist the species.

Recovery Criteria: To consider delisting all of the following recovery criteria must be met:

1) All regional stocks that use U.S. waters have been identified to source beaches based on reasonable geographic parameters.

2) Foraging populations are statistically significantly increasing at several key foraging grounds within each stock region.

3) All females estimated to nest annually (FENA) at "source beaches" are either stable or increasing for over 10 years.

4) A management plan based on maintaining sustained populations of turtles is in effect.

5) International agreements are in place to protect shared stocks.

 

Actions Needed: Three major actions are needed to achieve recovery (not in order of priority):

1) Minimize incidental mortalities of turtles by commercial fishing operations.

2) Support the efforts of Mexico and the countries of Central America to census and protect nesting olive ridleys, their eggs, and nesting beaches.

3) Identify stock home ranges using DNA analysis.

 

 

 

 

 

There are many nonprofit organizations, laws, and enforcement that have been set in place to protect the Olive Ridley Sea Turtle from extinction such as the Endangered Species Act of 1978 (Sartore,2010) and:

• CITES: listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (Fisheries 2014)

  • prohibits international trade (Sea Turtle, 2014)

• CMS: listed in Appendices I and II of the Convention on Migratory Species and are protected under the following auspices of CMS (Fisheries 2014)

• IOSEA: Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation and Management of Marine Turtles and their Habitats of the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia (Fisheries 2014)

• Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Conservation Measures for Marine Turtles of the Atlantic Coast of Africa (Fisheries 2014)

• SPAW: protected under Annex II of the Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife Protocol of the Cartagena Convention (Fisheries 2014)

• IAC: The U.S. is a party of the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles, which is the only international treaty dedicated exclusively to marine turtles (Fisheries 2014)

 

The U.S. has also  prohibited the importation of shrimp harvested in a manner that adversely affects sea turtles (Fisheries 2014)and globally, because the Olive Ridley continues to receive less conservation attention than its close relative, the Kemp's ridley (Sea Turtle, 2014) many nonprofit organizations such as The Convention on Migratory Species and the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles have also provided olive ridleys with protection, leading to increased conservation and management for this marine turtle (Sartore,2010) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) (Herbst, 2015) have come full force into the scene and put in tons of work to make sure that the Olive Ridley will not reach extinction.

Many large cities all over the world have also begun considering or implementing bans on plastic bags to save the sea turtle and Canada, Australia, the U.S. and Europe, are all considering bans or other measures to reduce consumption. In Ireland, plastic bags have been taxed since 2002, estimating a reduction in plastic bag use by almost 90 percent which has greatly helped the Olive ridley population. In January 2008, China’s State Council put a nationwide ban on plastic bags. The cabinet has demanded all stores go plastic bag-free after June 1. Not only will this reduction have a positive impact on the environment, but it is estimated that it will save China’s 37 million barrels of oil and thousands of Olive Ridley Sea Turtles.

In South America, where the Olive Ridley is threatened the most, many sanctuaries and refugees have been set up in order to keep the turtles safe. The four largest are listed below:

 

 

 

 

• Ostional National Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica(Herbst, 2015)

• Playa Hermosa Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica (Herbst, 2015)

• La Flor Wildlife Refuge, Nicaragua (Herbst, 2015)

• Padre Ramos, Nicaragua (Herbst, 2015)

 

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