- The steep decline of the Pacific Ocean leatherback turtle
has gone so far the species could be extinct within no more than a decade,
conservationists fear.
-
- A report by the US group Conservation International says
leatherback numbers there have fallen by 97% in 22 years.
-
- Five of the six other species of sea turtle are also
at risk of extinction, though not necessarily as acutely.
-
- Threats include fishing practices and the poaching of
the turtles' eggs, but scientists say they can still be saved.
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- One in three dies
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- CI released its report on the plight of the Pacific leatherbacks
at the 24th annual symposium on sea turtle conservation and biology, meeting
in Costa Rica.
-
- It says their numbers have fallen from about 115,000
breeding females to fewer than 3,000 since 1982.
-
- James Spotila, professor of environmental science at
Drexel University, said: "The Pacific leatherbacks currently face
an annual mortality rate of up to 30%.
-
- "That rate is clearly unsustainable, and without
dramatic intervention we can expect to see them disappear in as soon as
a decade."
-
- Of the other species, the Kemp's ridley and hawksbill
turtles are also both classified by IUCN-The World Conservation Union as
critically endangered, the designation given to the leatherbacks.
-
- Green, olive ridley and loggerhead turtles are classed
as endangered, and only northern Australia's flatbacks are not thought
to face extinction.
-
- Roderic Mast, vice-president of CI and president of the
International Sea Turtle Society, said: "On land, the canary in the
coal mine warns humans of impending environmental danger.
-
- "Sea turtles act as our warning mechanism for the
health of the ocean, and what they're telling us is quite alarming. Their
plummeting numbers are symptomatic of the ocean as a whole."
-
- One particular threat to turtles is the practice of longline
fishing, which involves the use of lines up to 145km (90 miles) long baited
with as many as 8,000 hooks each.
-
- Scientists are urging a dual approach to saving the turtles:
better protection and management for their nesting beaches, and control
of land-based lights: the turtles mistake them for the Moon, walk towards
them, and become stranded on the beach more marine protection and safer
fishing techniques - less than 0.5% of the oceans are formally protected,
and inexpensive changes to fishing gear and practices could mean radical
cuts in the mortality rate. One promising development, CI says, is the
investment of several million dollars over the next three years to consolidate
a marine protected area stretching from Ecuador to Costa Rica.
-
- The money is coming from four Latin American states,
the United Nations Foundation, Unesco, and CI itself.
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- © BBC MMIV
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3518627.stm
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