Research shows loggerhead sea turtles threatened by small-scale fishing operationsOctober 17, 2007Conservation efforts reduce loggerhead mortalities by working with fisherman in vital turtle habitat Washington, DC. Ocean Conservancy Scientist, Wallace J. Nichols and University of California-Santa Cruz researcher Hoyt Peckham found surprising results in a recent peer-reviewed loggerhead sea turtle study that Nichols and Peckham conducted over the course of 10 years. The full study will be published on October 17 in the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE. The study reveals that small-scale fishing operations are a greater threat to the survival of north Pacific loggerhead sea turtles than large industrial fishing operations. The species is seriously threatened. As The New York Times recently editorialized, "For an oceanic species such as the loggerhead, these are incredibly dangerous times. It is partly the longevity of these creatures that makes their death as bystanders among the global fishing fleets feel so tragic, a truly colossal waste of life." North Pacific loggerhead sea turtles travel more than 7,000 miles from Japan via Hawaii to feed and grow to maturity in Baja California Sur, Mexico, spending up to 30 years there before returning to Japan to breed. The number of nesting females in Japan has declined by 50 to 80 percent over the past 10 years. Young loggerheads spend 70 percent of their time in areas that are popular small-scale fishing locations. Small-scale fishing operations threaten the survival of these turtles because the turtles are inadvertently caught in gillnets set on the ocean bottom and long fishing lines with many hooks that can easily ensnare loggerhead sea turtles. "Many small-scale fishing operations off the coast of Baja California, Mexico overlap with high concentrations of loggerhead turtles. The combination of the indiscriminate gillnets and long-line fishing gear and the density of loggerhead turtles results in a deadly situation for the turtles," said Wallace J. Nichols, Ocean Conservancy Scientist. "Local efforts to educate fishermen and remove dangerous fishing gear from the water are essential to protecting this endangered species that relies on the food-rich waters in Baja California, Mexico for survival." While small-scale fishing operations cause great threats in Baja California, Mexico, inexpensive changes in the kind of fishing gear that even just a few fishermen use results in saving thousands of loggerhead turtles every year. Local conservation efforts are already underway to address the problem and this opportunity. Hoyt Peckham and the local Baja California conservation group, Grupo Tortuguero, with the help of Ocean Conservancy, recently worked with a local fisherman to retire dangerous long-line fishing gear to save up to 700 loggerhead sea turtles each year. Public Library of Science |
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| Related Sea Turtle Current Events and Sea Turtle News Articles Remotely Operated Vehicles and Satellite Tags Aid Turtle Studies Researchers are using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and satellite-linked data loggers to learn more about turtle behavior in commercial fishing areas and to develop new ways to avoid catching turtles in fishing gear. Papahanaumokuakea National Monument Facing Hurricane Neki A hurricane warning is in force for the Papahanaumokuakea National Monument from Nihoa Island to French Frigate Shoals to Maro Reef. Hurricane conditions likely there by 5 a.m. HST on Friday, October 23. Barcoding endangered sea turtles Conservation geneticists who study sea turtles have a new tool to help track this highly migratory and endangered group of marine animals: DNA barcodes. Scientists identify world's largest leatherback turtle population An international team of scientists has identified a nesting population of leatherback sea turtles in Gabon, West Africa as the world's largest. Cost of hatchling turtles' dash for freedom A newly hatched sea turtle's first swim is the most critical of its life. Having run the gauntlet of air and land predators to make it to the sea, the tiny voyager must also evade hungry fish patrolling the beaches in its bid for freedom. Loggerhead release to provide vital information to scientific community Thursday, November 6, 2008, Dr. Kirt Rusenko, Marine Conservationist, and staff from Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton will release two juvenile loggerhead sea turtles raised in captivity into the Indian River Lagoon near Sebastian Inlet. Small islands given short shrift in assembling archaeological record Small islands dwarf large ones in archaeological importance, says a University of Florida researcher, who found that people who settled the Caribbean before Christopher Columbus preferred more minute pieces of land because they relied heavily on the sea. Revealing the evolutionary history of threatened sea turtles It's confirmed: Even though flatback turtles dine on fish, shrimp, and mollusks, they are closely related to primarily herbivorous green sea turtles. Study finds high mortality of endangered loggerhead sea turtles in Baja California Along the southern coast of Baja California, Mexico, scientists have been counting the carcasses of endangered sea turtles for a decade as part of an effort to assess and eliminate threats to loggerhead sea turtle populations. Isotope analysis reveals foraging area dichotomy for Atlantic leatherback turtles The beaches of French Guiana constitute a major reproduction site for leatherback turtles. This sea turtle, although a protected species, is threatened by human activity: it ingests plastics, get accidentally caught in fishing nets, sees its egg-laying sites destroyed and its adults hunted illegally for their meat and their eggs. More Sea Turtle Current Events and Sea Turtle News Articles |
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