Save the Olive Ridley Sea Turtle!
If We Lose the Olive Ridley, You Lose Your Job!
Economic Threats
Economic Benefits
The Olive Ridley migrates through the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans and is Endangered only on the nesting sites on the Pacific coast of Mexico. They travel a long way and have a huge impact on almost the entire planet! Specifically they help increase biodiversity in an ecosystem which means they help the ocean keep a balanced number of different plant and animal species, this makes an ecosystem more resilient. Sea turtles are one of the main species that help because of how big their migration patterns are, they literally travel all around the world raising biodiversity as they go. For example, you would never guess but sea turtle fecal matter actually helps coral reefs thrive because they release the nutrients that the turtle had eaten back into the ocean similarly to how fertilizer helps plants grow.
No Sea Turtles Means Rising Global Temperatures!
Map of the Olive Ridley's migration range. (IUCN 2008)
Their fecal matter help raise the amount of producers like algae and phytoplankton which take carbon out of the atmosphere and help clean up the ocean for all animals (Four ways sea turtles help us keep our oceans and beaches healthy, 2018). This process is called nutrient cycling, nutrients are constantly being cycled around the ocean and a bunch of different plants can grow in the ocean which in turn allows more types of animals to be in the ocean as well this increases species diversity. The coral reefs on our planet have a huge role as well and the Olive Ridleys are protecting them. If the sea turtles go, the coral reefs go and a massive amount of carbon dioxide would be released back into our atmosphere because coral reefs works like forests and they sequester carbon. When they die, more carbon is released into the air causing global warming to become worse and worse because all of the carbon that the reefs were holding rise back into the atmosphere. If our planet dies, so do we.
Olive Ridleys Protect You From Coastal Floods!
Coral beds in the Great Barrier Reef. (Toby Hudson, 2010)
The Olive Ridley Sea Turtle faces many threats because of its great economic value within the local economies. "Arribadas” or the mass nesting of the Olive Ridley is one of the greatest socioeconomic threats that the turtles may face beside ocean pollution from oil tankers.Though arribadas does help local economies, the mass amount of tourists viewing the mass nesting often disturbs the turtles trying to hatch and prevents them from nesting on the coastline (Sartore,2010). In countries with a lower socioeconomic status, egg collection of the Olive ridley sea turtle is a major part of their economy which can put the Olive Ridley in severe danger. (Herbst, 2015).
Illegal poaching, which includes the harvesting of the Olive Ridleys eggs, meat and shells is the number one on economic threat that the Olive Ridley faces. All over the world, these animals are brutally slaughtered for their meat and eggs which are used for human consumption and other goods. (Wallmo and Lew, 2012). The turtle's shell is highly coveted for material goods such as earrings, glasses, and rings. Many people buy these items without even knowing that what they are wearing was illegally obtained. The turtle's shell, as well as other parts of the turtle's body, is gained through importation.
The animals suffer from poaching and overexploitation and sadly, hundreds of turtles, including the Olive Ridley are slaughtered daily. Unfortunately, since turtle egg harvesting became legal on the Playa Ostional in Costa Rica in 1987, local villagers have been able to sell nearly 3 million eggs collected from the beaches each season. Thus severely harming the reproduction rates of the Olive Ridley.(Sea Turtle, 2014).
Illegal poachers often take sea turtle eggs from the nests like this. (Barren, 2014)
Sea Turtle shell earrings sold at a local market. (Lew,2017) Courtesy of Travel News.
The conservation of sea turtles has also been shown to convey economic value to society that is not necessarily associated with interaction or use. For example, estimates of the economic value derived from improving the status of endangered marine species in the US, including Loggerhead, Leatherback and Olive Ridley Sea Turtles (Wallmo and Lew, 2016) have been shown to be significant. Economic benefits are derived from sea turtle tourism all over the world. Sea turtles also add value to underwater recreation and convey non-use values(Wallmo and Lew, 2012). Sea Turtles are such as the Olive Ridley are extremely important for local economies. Local economies would crumble without them.
Sea turtles attract thousands of tourists each year. (Orion, 2015)
It has been proven with scientific fact that divers in Barbados place significantly higher values on other attributes such as coral cover, fish diversity and marine wildlife.(Wallmo and Lew, 2012). More value is added to tourist attractions when sea turtles are present (Wallmo and Lew, 2012). The indirect economic benefits provided by sea turtles via tourism and recreation are an obvious example. Coupling the economic importance of tourism to the Caribbean region with the charismatic character of sea turtles, their role as an indicator of marine health and the mounting evidence that non-consumptive uses of turtles generate significant economic value suggests that sea turtles are an ideal flagship species – as described by Bowen-Jones and Entwistle (2002) and Walpole and Leader-Williams (2002) – upon which to leverage public awareness and financial support (Wallmo and Lew, 2012). The Olive Ridleys has a high intrinsic value, meaning it won't take much to value up support for the dying species.
Diving with the Sea Turtles is an extremely popular tourist attraction. (Wit, 2017) Courtesy of Dive Report.
A flagship species, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund, is “ a species selected to act as an ambassador, icon or symbol for a defined habitat, issue, campaign or environmental cause. Flagship species are usually relatively large, and considered to be 'charismatic' in western cultures.” Sea Turtles such as the Olive Ridley are flagship species because of the wonderful reputation sea turtles hold in the public eye. Many travel thousands of miles to see sea turtles swim free in the ocean and lay their eggs on the beaches. Without the Olive Ridley, many local and national businesses will suffer economically and many small towns and villages that depend on the Olive Ridley as their main source of income will take the hardest hit, with many losing their jobs.
Turtles in the Stock Market?
Damage caused by storm surge in Bolivar Peninsula, Texas. (NOAA, 2008)
Not only do plants provide stability to the shoreline, they also help establish a steady food supply for a number of different plant eating species. These organisms keep the beach filled with a bunch of different kinds of animals for everyone to see and experience first hand in the wild. The more types of plants and animals there are, the more an ecosystem may increase in biodiversity. By providing a source of nutrients on beaches, sea turtles are able to stabilize and care for their own nesting habitat so that beaches may continue to host baby sea turtles and keep the oceans on earth healthy (Wilson, E.G., Miller, K.L., Allison, D. and Magliocca, M., n.d.).
The Olive Ridley Sea Turtle is the reason the ocean is able to have such beautiful sights like the Beaches and the Great Barrier Reef which might not be available for future generations if we continue to be careless towards the habitats of species like the Olive Ridley. They are vital to the health of beaches because of their ability to supply a source of high quality nutrients to the beach. When you go out on a family beach day and you see all of those beautiful dunes with plants blowing in the wind, this is all thanks to sea turtles. When turtles lay their eggs on the beach the egg shells that are left behind, along with the baby turtles that don’t survive, become a source of nutrients that provide organic material to fertilize the land and make more plants grow. The more vegetation the dunes have, the more plants can help stabilize the slopes because their roots support the dunes and preventing erosion which protects us from storm surge.