A stormy year for sea turtles
by Harvey Rice
July 30,2010
The Kemp’s ridley sea turtles seemed to be making a come back until this past year. The oil spill, cold weather, and faulty shrimping nets affected the turtle’s population. The damage the oil spill has caused on the population of Kemp’s ridley is unknown yet. Although, scientists have seen a decline in nesting grounds and an increase in turtle deaths seen in the Gulf of Mexico. This article does contain bias because this person is for helping the sea turtles. A majority of the information provided is referring to the decline in sea turtles. Its main focus is to inform people on the disappearing sea turtles. Also the ways we can help stop it which one way would be by pushing back the opening date of shrimp season and making sure devices on shrimp boats are properly installed. This article is applicable to environmental science in the areas of the impacts of population growth and hazardous chemicals in the environment. It applies to the impacts of population growth because it talks about the factors that made the Kemp’s ridley decline. It relates to hazardous chemicals in the environment because it talks about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
I think this article to should be brought to the attention of the people who give the shrimp boats their license to catch shrimp. They need to be aware that the turtles have already been hit hard twice this year and need a break. Not only did the cold weather affect their mating time but they were also hit with the BP oil spill. Right when the eggs began hatching the turtles were swimming in water filled with toxins and other things that killed 498 of them. Just as scientists were predicting that the turtles were making a comeback a disaster strikes and leaves them back in square one.
ReplyDeleteThe solution to this problem could lay no further than consulting with the fishermen themselves rather than the administration in charge of opening the fishing season. If there were designated people in charge of checking boats for proper turtle excluder devices, then perhaps the turtles could be maintained. These people in charge of checking the boats could be set up on ports in which the threat of the turtles getting caught is the highest, rather than setting them up in unnecessary places, thus saving money and turtles. The turtles cannot decide where they can swim to, but humans can decide to make the place they do live in fit for their survival.
ReplyDeleteLibby Gerstner, 7th period.
I agree with Vanessa and Libby, people need to be more aware of this, and there is a solution. These turtles are indicator species now indicating to us that the water in which they are living is not clean, and there needs to be something done about it because their population is declining. We might not be able to do anything about the cold weather, but we can for sure find ways to help the fisherman have a better way to catch shrimp without hurting the turtles or any other animals. It just isn't fair for these turtles to get hit so hard when they did nothing to deserve this. We need turtles in the first place because they eat organisms in the sea and are also eaten themselves, so they help sustain our environment by population control and nutrient cycling.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Vanessa, Libby, and Haley on the fact that this issue needs to come to the attention of the fisherman as well as the local people. Because this particular species is on the edge of extinction, the administration and the fisherman need to take action. the source of the problems is the oil spill, shrimp fishing, the cold weather, and the time it takes to reproduce. By improving the ways of shrimp fishing many turtles will have a better chance of survival. Also, by working on cleaning up the oil spill, we can attempt to protect the hatchlings and baby turtles making their way out to sea. I agree that the article is unbiased and i think that we should take this as a indicator species warning that there is a habitat problem.
ReplyDelete-Erin MacInerney
I'm in horror at the loss of such innocent creatures. This issue should become much more prominent in the news because unless people are aware of the severity of the problem, not much will change. Shrimp fishing needs to especially be careful because there are so few turtles left, and every one they "accidentally" kill is precious to the survival of the species. This article was unbiased because the author was not taking sides, he was just stating the facts.
ReplyDeleteThe turtles seem to need our intervention in order to recover and stay abundant throughout these waters. It seems as a general consensus to raise awareness, and I totally agree. This creatures need to be recognized in their plight, and receive public support. Regulation of the fishermen whose nets these turtles find themselves in, also need to be brought under control
ReplyDelete