Sea Turtle Of the sea turtles that hatch on the southeastern coast of the United States Conservancy and only approximately 1 in 1 000 to 1 in Oceana work 10 000 survive to adulthood to protect sea turtles Also sea turtles have captured the public's imagination and people want to protect them They see photos of turtles entangled in fishing nets People on the beach may encounter them laying eggs Several organizations sponsor volunteer groups that patrol beaches band turtles for satellite tracking and otherwise protect and study them Green turtles are still at risk in many places But at the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge and other areas with active protection they are a major success story SEA TURTLE LIFE AND HAZARDS Sea turtles begin as tiny clumsy babies clawing their way out of eggs and tumbling over one another in their sand dune nests They race covered with Temperature can determine the gender of sea turtle hatchlings Warmer temperatures produce more female hatchlings
sand toward the ocean If they are very lucky they avoid predators such as seabirds and raccoons and enter the water There many succumb to other predators including fish Surviving sea turtles migrate long distances through the open ocean between feeding and nesting grounds One leatherback turtle fitted with a tracking device traveled 12 000 miles 19 300 km between Indonesia and Oregon Turtles spend years in the ocean some living as long as 70 to 80 years But when it comes time for reproduction every mother turtle returns to the very beach on which she hatched This takes from 5 to 35 years depending on the species SAVING BABY TURTLES On the Caribbean island of Utila in 2014 150 volunteers from the conservation organization Sea Shepherd patrolled the beaches Patrols kept poachers away from hawksbill turtle nests so poachers could not steal the eggs or kill the mothers for their meat and shells Volunteers hid the nests covered turtle tracks and coordinated with the island's police Thanks to their efforts all turtle moms returned safely to the ocean Approximately 3 600 hawksbill hatchlings made it successfully to the ocean Hawksbills are still critically endangered but volunteers may help them survive Sea turtles roam the world ocean and face a long list of dangers On beaches killing for food and the destruction of nesting grounds are still serious threats There is also a flourishing illegal trade in turtle shells Beautifully patterned hawksbill shells are particularly desired for jewelry making Coastal development such as seawalls alters or destroys nesting sites
Sea turtles are built for swimming but they encounter dangers in the ocean They must breathe air and they cannot withdraw their heads and flippers into their shells making them vulnerable to boats and fishing gear Hundreds of thousands of turtles die every year from entrapment in fishing gear Ocean plastics are no less deadly When leatherback turtles see floating plastic bags they mistake them for jellyfish their main food source Many choke on the bags or starve as bags fill their stomachs All sea turtles may become entangled in ocean debris Sea turtles like other ocean organisms are vulnerable to the global threats of toxic ocean pollution and climate change TOUR DE TURTLES Since 2008 the Sea Turtle Conservancy has sponsored an event called Tour de Turtles A Sea Turtle Migration Marathon The group fits turtles of four species with satellite tracking monitors and tracks them online to show their migration path and the distance they travel The winner is the turtle that travels the greatest distance In 2016 14 turtles competed The winner Lady Aurelia swam 3 465 miles 5 576 km The Tour de Turtles increases awareness of sea turtle species and the threats they face Each turtle is assigned a particular cause such as oil spills and the public supports their favorite turtle through online donations Projects to save sea turtles vary concentrating on different hazards and different parts of turtle life cycles The Billion Baby Turtles project run by the organization SEE Turtles raises funds from individuals schools businesses and sea turtle tours They help protect baby sea turtles throughout Latin America They pay local residents to patrol nesting beaches and protect the mother turtles and their eggs Other projects such as those run by the World Wildlife Fund WWF involve working with communities or promoting use of new technology including turtle friendly hooks TEDs and satellite trackers
