When Fishing Becomes Dangerous for Turtles
Off the Gulf of Mexico, endangered sea turtles are washing upon the shore. According to biologist, Lyndsey Howell, the smell is unbearable. This was in April last year and according to Howell, 30 dead in just one month. There is no sign of disease or water contamination so the scientist went to do what she does best – research into the whys.
What she and her discovered was that the endangered sea turtles all had wounds, some had parts missing and it appeared to be from boat propellers or nets. Their suspicions were confirmed not long after – shrimping was the main cause.
Shrimping is catching shrimps with fish nets. You’ve seen it in Forrest Gump, the movie. Sometimes they just got trash, other times it was mounds of shrimp and small fish. In this case, turtles were getting caught in the net because it was that time of the year when they come closer to shore to nest.
More awareness of the problems of shrimping among fishermen is important, but there is also a federal program that has been started that is more aggressive and everyone is hoping will stop the unnecessary deaths. The main objective of this program is to improve the Kemp’s ridleys so that it goes from endangered to threatened. Hopefully, it aims to increase nesting females to 10,000 per season. This will increase the population and turn the tide for the sea turtles.
From a different angle, there is also the problem sea turtles face in other areas of the world. For instance in South Africa, pollution into the sea is destroying the corals and killing the sea turtles. The waters are becoming so polluted even humans are finding it difficult to find clean, safe water. Thus there are efforts ongoing to save rain water and cleanse the water system not just for the turtles but for the people living there.
