Sea Turtle Monitoring & Conservation

 Sea Turtle Monitoring & Conservation 

Marine turtles are significant bio-indicators of the world ocean environment. Saving these magnificent animal we can infact protect our ocean life. They are reptilian, ancient and distinctive part of the marine biodiversity evolved more the 150 million years before. Roaming around the worlds ocean marine turtles have existed since their giant land turtle ancestors returned to the sea sometime during the age of dinosaurs. Scientists recognize 7 living species of sea turtles under 6 genera like Olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea), Green turtle (Chelonia mydas), Loggerhead (Caretta caretta), Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), Kemp's ridley (Lepidochelys kempii), Flatback (Natator depressa). Each marine turtle has deferent characteristic. The distinctive race of the eastern pacific green turtle is refereed to as the Black turtle should be green turtle subspecies (Chelonia mydas agassizii). With the exception of the Australian Flatback, all are listed as threatened or endangered. Sadly, marine turtle face many dangers as they travel the seas - like getting caught in fishing gear meant for other animals, the loss of nesting and feeding sites, directed hunting and pollution.

 

 

FACTS OF MARINE TURTLE

Air-breathing reptiles, marine turtles are well-adapted to their marine environment. Their size varies greatly, depending upon species from the small Kemp's ridley, which weighs between 80-100 pounds, to the enormous leatherback, that normally weighs more than 1,000 pounds and the largest recorded about 916 Kgs.

 

 

Excellent Navigator

They are ancient navigator, can recognize their own nesting beach even after many years. Female turtle return in maturity to the same beach for egg laying where it has been hatched long time before. Scientist believes that turtle use earth magnetic force to navigate perfectly. They transport massive nutrients and increase productivity of coastal underwater vegetation during their travel. They are extreme traveler and move as far as 12000 kms to reach their nesting rookery. They can recognize color as is absence in many higher animal group.

 

Long Living Creature:

Marine turtles are Long-lived and mature between 15-50 years. They are highly migratory and travel great distances during lifetime from ocean to ocean around the globe for nesting foraging and mating. Scientists are still researching sea turtle longevity. Once marine turtles reach sexual maturity, they may have an estimated reproductive life of about 30 years, given that some species reach maturity at 50 years.

 

Turtle Diet

Different species of marine turtles like to eat different ocean creatures. They have mouths and jaws that are specially formed to help them eat their desired item. And each species eats, sleeps, mates and swims in distinctly different areas. Feeds variety of items like jellyfish, crab, shrimps, shells, sponge, sea grass etc. Sometimes their habitats overlap between species but for the most part they each have different preferences

 

 

Life & Reproduction

Although living in the sea they must have to breath in air and lay eggs on tropical sandy beach for reproduction. They spend their entire lives at sea, except when females come ashore to lay eggs on the tropical sandy beaches well above the high tide line in several times per season every 2-5 years. Marine turtle return in maturity to the same beach where hatched. Eggs are laid in 50-100 cm deep egg chamber and those hatched by sand heat provided by natural sunshine that takes 50-65 days incubation in general. They are strong swimmer and green turtle can move over 50 kms per hour.

 

Life in the Ocean

Sea turtle mother has no duty on eggs once laid on the beach and the babies find their way in the night time guided by the distant brightest horizon in the sea. Like other reptiles sexes of marine turtle depends on incubation temperature. They spend their first few years in the open oceans, eventually moving to protected bays, estuaries and other nearshore waters. Male sea turtles never leave the ocean accept basking in remote and pristine beaches where there are no human. During nesting female search safe sandy nesting beach and if undisturbed, leave the water and crawl up the beach to a point well above the high tide line and start remarkable nesting process.

 SEA TURTLES ARE ENDANGERED OR THREATENED

Marine turtle populations have been seriously reduced world-wide through a number of human influences. Over-developed coastal areas have reduced natural nesting habitats. Capture of adult turtles for eggs, meat, leather, and tortoise shell has decreased breeding populations. Incidental capture of adults in fishing nets and shrimp trawls has brought one species, the Kemp's Ridley (Lepidochelys kempi), right to the brink of extinction. For these reasons all species of sea turtle are protected internationally. In Bangladesh also sea turtle protected and Government has signed MoU of the Indian Ocean & South East Asian (IOSEA) Marine Turtle Regional Secretariat based in Thailand. The MoU on the Conservation and Management of Marine Turtles and their habitat of the Indian Ocean and South East Asian (known as IOSEA marine turtle) puts in place a framework through which states of the Indian ocean and south east Asia region as other concerned states and partners can work together to conserve and replenish depleted marine turtle population and habitats for which they share responsibility. It acknowledges a wide range of threats to marine turtles, including Habitat Destruction, Direct Harvesting and Trade, Fisheries By-Catch, Pollution and other man-induced sources of mortality. A special “Year of the Turtle” has been declared throughout the Indian Ocean and South East Asian region in 2006, focusing on the following core themes: Celebrating Marine Turtles, taking measures to ensure their Long Time Survival, Conserving Marine Turtle Habitat, Reducing Accidental Capture in fishing operations and Encouraging Applied Research.

 

SEA TURTLES ARE PROTECTED BY LAW

 Currently Marine turtles in Bangladesh are protected under the revised BWPA 2005. Briefly, the laws state that: "No person may take, harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or attempt to engage in any such conduct to marine turtles, turtle nests, and/or turtle eggs." Any person who knowingly violates any provision of the act may be assessed civil penalties and/or up to a certain year imprisonment. Bangladesh Government has signed MoU of the marine Turtle Conservation Initiative of Indian Ocean & South East Asian (IOSEA) countries.

 

 

 

Sea Turtle: Threats and Sources

ILLEGAL EGG COLLECTION

•      Poaching of sea turtle eggs for food.

 

LOSS OF NESTING GROUND

•      Alteration of nesting ground by developmental activities like Hotel/resorts Establishment, naval base, settlement and other infrastructures.

•      Construction of road and walkways, 

•      Inappropriate plantation activity that impact negatively spreading roots underneath the nesting beach; like Casuarina & other exotic plantation,

•      Sand dune alteration for settlement, hotel establishment and Marine drive construction,

•      Tourist hotel and beach front other facility.

 

PREDATION OF SEA TURTLE, EGGS & DESTRUCTION OF NESTS

•      Predation of nesting sea turtle by feral dogs & jackel,

•      Predation of nests and eggs by dogs.

 

TURTLE MORTALITY IN THE SEA

•      Sea turtle by-catch by the offshore fishing activities,

•      Sea turtle are entrapped in the ESBN, MSBN, drifting gill nests, Fixed Gill net and by TED less shrimp trawl net.

 

TOURISM IMPACT

Negative impact due to mass tourism activity along beach,

•      Night activities by tourists: making noise, singing, playing on beach, Bar-b-cue & camp fire,

•      Disturbing turtle while nesting and emergence: uncontrolled observation, using flashlights for photography, flashing torch and riding on turtle,

•      Night activity by tourist and disturbing turtle while nesting and emergence.

 

LIGHTING

•      Lighting from tourist hotel along Laboni beach to Kolatoli and beach front other facilities.

·         Lighting from shrimp hatchery at Kolatoli, sonar Para and Teknaf zone almost 20 km beach area remain bright during night.

•      Disorientation of turtle hatchlings while moving towards sea due to lighting problem;

·         Beach driving at night and driving through marine drive from Kolatoli to Sonar Para creates lighting disturbance for emerging nesting sea turtle.

·         Beach lighting along the shore from shrimp hatchery, vehicles, naval base, resorts, and other infrastructures.

·         Disorientation of turtle hatchlings while moving towards sea.

·        

Light used by the shrimp fry collectors, light from  human activity; torch, Hotel and  beach front   other facility.

SEA TURTLE OF BANGLADESH

 

Bangladesh, located on the northern side of the Bay of Bengal in mainland Asia, supports five species of marine turtles in its territorial waters, including the olive ridley turtle, green turtle, hawksbill turtle, loggerhead turtle and leatherback turtle. The total coastline of Bangladesh measures 710 kilometers approximately. Not all the coastline is suitable for nesting, as sandy beaches are available in sections along the mainland coast. Apart from the mainland coast, there are numerous offshore islands whose sandy beaches ideal for marine turtle nesting. Olive ridleys, green turtles are common while hawksbills are rare. There was an unconfirmed record of loggerhead. Leatherback turtles are seldom encountered and with no known records of nesting, in Bangladesh. Marine turtles have never been prioritized in any agenda for research or conservation since Bangladesh gained independence in 1971.

 

Like other areas in the tropical world Marine turtle population was far better along the coast of Bangladesh while the nesting rookeries were widespread. During the last 3 decades serious degradation and multifold threats in offshore and inshore areas turtle nesting is now confined only some undisturbed sandy beaches out of 710 entire coastlines. Areas identified by the researchers are St. Martin Island, Sahporirdwip to Cox’s Bazar long sandy beach including Teknaf, Bordail, Kocchopia, Inani, Monkhali and other areas like Sonadia Island, Kutubdia Island, Sandwip and sandy beaches of Sundarban area like Egg Island, Mandarbaria, Dubla Island. The nesting season in Bangladesh begins in late monsoon to early winter each year with olive ridley first and then greens in late up to rainy season. While there is estimation to have five traversing species in our marine territorial waters only three species have been recorded to nest Including Hawksbill turtle in St. Martin Island and other nesting rookery only supported Olive ridley and Green turtle in some areas. The nesting population is extremely small comparing the size of rookeries resulted by the indiscriminate loss of nesting ground through development & disturbance, mortality of population stock in the sea by commercial shrimp trawl net and gill-netters

 

 

 

 

 

Sea Turtles are

Messengers of the Sea

 

 

 

By saving sea turtle, we can help save Entire Ocean.

 Sea turtle populations are bellwethers of the ocean’s health, signaling us regarding entire marine changes. Healthy wild population of sea turtles indicates that the ocean supporting them also healthy. Diminishing populations point to growing threats to the ocean. Recent research attests that sea turtles can be keystone species, or critical components in the marine environment. If a keystone species perishes, its entire ecosystem process may collapse around it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOW YOU CAN HELP MARINE TURTLE CONSERVATION

 

Bangladesh Department of Environment (DOE) and different NGOs like MarineLife Alliance working to save remaining marine turtle populations in Bangladesh, but without YOUR support, the survival of marine turtles on our planet is doubtful. Everyone can contribute to making a change to save this magnificent animal. Here are some ways that the concerned and interested citizens can help the cause:

Don't litter: Trash thrown on the ground often finds its way to the sea, even if it wasn't discarded on the beach. Sea turtles may become fatally entangled and often mistake litter for food, causing fatal health problems. Educate others on the dangers of littering. 

Help convince fishermen to reduce by catch in offshore fisheries. As an owner of the Shrimp Trawl Net & Set Bag Net you should use TED or Turtle Excluder Device to minimize turtle mortality.

• As much as possible, refrain from walking on the beach at night during the winter months. No matter how quiet, humans will often, and unknowingly, frighten nesting sea turtles back into the sea.
• Never keep sea turtles in aquariums. Never keep marine turtles in aquariums; do not keep them for exhibition or business; they may survive, but without the proper permits, this violates the law.
• Keep bright lights away from the beach. If you have security or safety lights near the beach, build shades around the light so the beach is not directly illuminated. Hatchlings will be disoriented by bright lights & turtles will not emerge to nest.
• Prevent people from harassing sea turtles or poaching a nest.
• If you observe an adult sea turtle or hatchling sea turtle on the beach, please adhere to the following rules and guidelines:
• It is usual for sea turtles to crawl on the beach on winter nights. Stay away from crawling or nesting sea turtles. Although the urge to observe closely will be great, please resist the urge. Nesting is a critical stage in the sea turtle's life cycle. Please leave them undisturbed.
• Do report all stranded (dead, injured, or apparently healthy) turtles to the MarineLife Alliance marine turtle researcher at …01781158998.
• Never handle hatchling sea turtles. If you observe hatchlings wandering away from the sea or on the beach, call the marine turtle researcher immediately.

 

 

 

M. Zahirul Islam

Sea Turtle Education & Research Center

MARINELIFE ALLIANCE

Cox’s Bazar 4700, Bangladesh

Tel: 01781158998

mail: marinelife_al@yahoo.com, myexplorewild@yahoo.com

Web: https://tropicalmarinelifecenter.blogspot.com/