SEA TURTLES

The Endangerment of Sea Turtles

The Endangerment of Sea Turtles

Categorized from threatened to critically endangered? sea turtles from the world's oceans have mostly been hunted down for their meat? fat and shells (tortoiseshell). These days? the most significant threat for them is a commercial fishing technique called logline fishing that uses hundreds or even thousands of baited hooks hanging from a single line and causes accidental sea turtle deaths. Living in bays? shallow? grassy waters? coral reefs? estuaries and lagoons on the continental shelf of Australia? Indonesia or the coast of Papua New Guinea? the fatback turtle is a bit more unusual than its fellows because it lays less but larger eggs. Crab Island is the most significant breeding site in the western Torres Strait. (Dixon? 1988? 102-103) Breeding may also occur on the islands of the southern Great Barrier Reef? and on mainland beaches and offshore islands north of Gladstone.

Locally this turtle is called “Kikila” and the species name is Natator depresses. It's from Latin and means flat? referring to the carapace. It has great colors: yellow-grey or sometimes a green-grey carapace? pale yellow lower shell (plastron) and a yellow band underneath that outlines the marginal scutes. The fatback sea turtles adults can reach as much as 198 pounds (90 kilograms) and they measure up to 39 inches (100 centimeters) long. (Dixon? 1988? 102-103)

Eretmochelys imbricate or widely known as the hawksbill turtle it's similar to other marine turtles but also has some characteristics none other has. It has a sharp? curving beak-like mouth with prominent tedium and a saw-like appearance of its shell margins? two pairs of prefrontal scales? thick posterior overlapping sautés on the carapace? four pairs of costal sautés and two claws on each flipper. Most appreciated meals consist of sea sponges? but rest assured they won't say no to some comb jellies or jellyfish. (Dixon? 1988? 102-103)

The hawksbill turtle has been declared a critically endangered species mostly because it was hunted for flesh (good eating) and the shell which is used as primary source for tortoise shell material. Found predominantly in tropical reefs of the Indian? Pacific and Atlantic? E. imbricata is the one most associated with tropical waters.

Some of the places where you could see the hawksbill turtles include the Gulf of Mexico? the Brazilian coast (specifically Bahia)? southern Florida and Hawaii? on the beaches of Antigua and Barbuda? in Costa Rica (specifically close to Tortuguero)? the Island of Cuba? in Puerto Rico near Mona Island? close to Cape of Good Hope in Africa? across the entire Indonesian archipelago? the Japanese archipelago? New Zealand and on the north-western coast of Australia. In the Philippines? a small group of islands in the southwest of the archipelago have been named the “Turtle Islands” and I don't think we should explain why. (Ernst? 1989? 77-93)

The only species in the genus Chelonian? the lives in the tropical and subtropical seas around the world with main populations in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific ...