Save the Olive Ridley Sea Turtle!
Longline Fishing
Olive Ridleys Caught in Commercial Fishing Nets and Drowning to Death!
Strangled, amputated, and drowned, every year a startling amount of sea turtles, not just Olive Ridleys, are accidentally captured and/or killed and injured through fishing nets during migration and this in turn harms the environment. A species that is already struggling to survive are now carelessly killed by accident! They are already purposely killed by poachers, but now they are also getting caught in legal fishing nets meant for fish. The question is why aren’t there laws protecting sea turtles from accidental catchment and death? The turtles get drawn in by the bait as well and will often get caught on the hooks put in place to only catch fish. There are two main types of commercial fishing that threaten sea turtles, the first being longline fishing. This is a method that involves hundreds of hooks and lures attached to the back of a boat that are then dragged behind. When a turtle is accidentally snagged on one of those hooks they can’t break free and as a result they drown because they can’t get to the surface. Another way they die from these nets is when a hook gets lodged in their digestive system, which leads to an extremely slow and painful death just as terrible as drowning (Sea Turtle Conservancy, 2017). These are extremely brutal fatalities that can completely be avoided with a solution as simple as attaching lights to fishing lines so that turtles can avoid them (What WWF is Doing, 2018). Why are we not acting on a solution that is so simple?
Trawl Fishing
The other popular method of fishing is called trawl fishing which requires a large net being dragged behind a boat ensnaring anything in its path. Just like Longline fishing, Trawl fishing comes with its own dangers to sea turtles during accidental capture. Many sea turtles suffer permanent damage from entanglement such as strangulation and amputation when they get caught in the net. Their oxygen gets cut off from ropes that are closing their lungs and many lose limbs from the tightness of the rope coiled around their body. When they get caught in either of these fishing methods, they get brutally dragged behind a large boats for miles until they either die a slow painful death, or escape with extensive injuries (Sea Turtle Conservancy, 2017). These issues are all avoidable if commercial fishing methods were changed to incorporate turtles excluder devices. They are a device that can be built into fishing trawlers that provide sea turtles with a safe escape from the net while still allowing people to fish for whatever species was desired originally (What WWF is Doing, 2018).
Gangions used in longline fishing. (NOAA, 2012)
Diagram of trawling. (NOAA, 2005)
Careless Litter is Killing Baby Sea Turtles!
No matter where sea turtles migrate, along with their hatchlings, they fall victim to natural predators such as raccoons, birds, and sharks. But the dangers of predation increase even further when anthropogenic development spreads onto nesting beaches and introduce harmful invasive species. For example, when trash gets littered and left on the beach it attracts other non-native species like raccoons that are in search of a food source. This can be a very dangerous threat with the extremely low survival rate and the long gestation period of sea turtles, any destruction to nests can have an extremely destructive effect on the sea turtle population even with their large broods. Although, the digestion of sea turtle eggs is a natural occurrence, the numbers of carnivores like racoons and birds increase with human activity. This is because they migrate wherever they can find a food source and an increased amount of tourists on a beach more than likely means an abundant source of leftover food. Problems like these, which are caused by humans, are carelessly ignored even at the risk of losing these adorable eco-warriors. A number of people let their cats or dogs run outside lose which gives them an opportunity to hunt down and eat all of the baby sea turtles before they even hatch. Some animals even attack the adult female turtle nesting in that area (Sea Turtle Conservancy, 2017).
Bucket of baby Olive Ridley sea turtles. (Sundar, 2011)
Olive Ridleys Torn From Their Home and Eaten!
People all over the world are killing an endangered species for their meat and taking their eggs for food! Olive Ridleys have been threatened by human interactions for years and continue to be vulnerable to this very day. Like many other species of sea turtles, the Olive Ridley is consistently over-harvested for its eggs, shells, and meat to be sold in the international trade to many across the globe almost to extinction. During nesting season when female sea turtles lay their eggs, hunters will participate in egg pulling and wait until the female has laid her eggs then jump out and kill the mother for her shell and meat while taking all of the orphaned baby turtles or eggs to sell for food to restaurants who want sea turtle on their menu. Although hunting, harvesting, and trading sea turtles in the United States has been declared illegal, the trade still continues through the black market and they are still butchered for their meat and eggs regularly regardless of the laws put in place to protect the Olive Ridley (Sea Turtle Conservancy, 2017). We are eating a species that is keeping our oceans clean and healthy and drastically lowering reproductive rates. It makes you think how much more damage the earth can take before it’s too late to correct our mistakes.
Sea turtle eggs sold in Kota Bharu market. (G.Mannaerts, 2014)