Decades of conservation efforts
have led authorities to downgrade the turtles to threatened, though many
challenges still remain
The last century have been
brutal for sea turtles of all species. Beach developments destroyed nesting
sites for the giant marine reptiles, pollution and warming waters made them
ill, fishing nets snared them, and industrial-scale harvesting to feed
people crashed their populations. But there is finally some good news when it
comes to sea turtles. Yesterday, NOAA Fisheries
and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced they’ve downgraded populations
of the green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas, in Florida and Mexico from
endangered to threatened.
It’s an incremental victory for
the turtles, which were still being made into canned soup in the Florida Keys
as late as the early 1970s. But since they were listed as endangered in 1978,
the breeding populations in Florida and Mexico have rebounded due to protection
of nesting grounds, prohibitions on catching the turtles, and efforts to reduce
“bycatch,” when turtles get caught in fishing nets. According to NOAA, the
breeding population in Florida has increased from just a handful in the late
1970s to 2,250 nesting females during the last census.
The agencies also announced a new
plan to help recover green sea turtles worldwide. They are dividing the global
turtle habitat into 11 sections, which allows conservationists to implement
various management plans. In eight of those sections the turtles are listed as
threatened. According to Discovery News, the turtles will be listed as
endangered in the Mediterranean, Central South Pacific and Central West Pacific
Ocean.
“Successful conservation and
management efforts developed in Florida and along the Pacific coast of Mexico
are a roadmap for further recovery strategies of green turtle populations
around the world,” Eileen Sobeck, assistant NOAA administrator for fisheries
says in the press release.
Still, there are many challenges
for the almost 600,000 nesting female green sea turtles around the world. Fishing nets remain an issue, as
are egg poachers in
some areas. A viral
disease called fibropapillomatosis leads to tumors in some young turtles in
warm waters. And rising sea levels may affect nesting habitat. With so many challenges remaining for the
green sea turtles, tailoring the management strategies to small groups will
help them target the specific issues each population faces, Sobeck explains in
the release.
“Florida's coasts are ground zero
for sea-level rise,” Jacki Lopez, Florida director for the Center for
Biological Diversity tells Jenny Staletovich
at The Miami Herald, “and
the country is looking for us to carefully plan and manage for rising seas and
our nesting sea turtles.”
Even so, the news is welcome in
the grim world of ocean conservation. “The undeniable recovery of most green
sea turtle populations creates a hopeful spot in our changing oceans,”
Catherine Kilduff an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity’s oceans
program says in a press release. “This success story shows that
the Endangered Species Act works and is an essential safety net for endangered
wildlife.”
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