Why are leatherbacks endangered?

Question

Is there something I can do to help? I'm not sure how I, as one person, can make a difference.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

There are a number of reasons: loss of beach areas used for nesting, marine debris, accidental harvest by commercial fishing, disease, poaching/hunting, and getting hit by boats.

Commercial fishing has a huge impact because it causes mortality of mature turtles, which is a life stage that naturally had an extremely low rate of mortality, but is now a major source of mortality. Sea turtles cannot withstand high rates of mortality of adults because they take a long time to mature before breeding, and few juveniles ever make it to adulthood. Their reproductive strategy is one where adults have to reproduce multiple times (=multiple years) - a dozen to several dozen times - before they are likely to have two offspring survive to reproductive age. When you start killing adults in this type of species, it is doomed.

Things you can do: do not buy or eat fish that are caught by nets or lines that kill turtles: shark, swordfish, snapper, marlin, tuna (unless it is yellowfin or skipjack, and caught by pole). Promote motels or businesses that develop oceanfront properties and have environmental plans to accommodate turtles; avoid those businesses that do not protect turtles. You can participate in turtle watches and beach monitoring programs through a variety of groups. This link points to all sorts of info, including various groups and organizations near the bottom of the page:

Source(s):

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/turt…

Answer 2

Its according to where you live as far as a direct impact on the species. If you live close to the coast you could join a club that raises money to help fight pollution and habitat destruction. If not , I am sure there is a way to help. These turtles have only a few areas of coastline left to lay their eggs and be free of human interaction. These shorelines are going fast. The pressure for prime real estate is more important than some turtles in a lot of peoples mind. I am not one of them. These animals were here before we were and they need just as much space now as they had years ago. Contact a college or a firm that has a program in Marine biology and they can give you some info on how and where to help these animals and many others like them. Thanks for caring.

Answer 3

Populations of Leatherbacks in the world are crashing due to four human threats: egg poaching, loss of nesting beaches, accidental catch by commercial fishermen, and plastic -- leatherbacks eat jellyfish, which look like plastic bags. All seven major sea turtle species are endangered due to similar pressures.

YES, EVEN ONE PERSON >>YOU<< CAN HELP MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

» CLEANUP! - Keep plastics out of lakes, rivers, and oceans. Join in Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup on September 15, 2007: http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/Pag…

» SHOP SMART! - Turtles think plastic bags look yummy but then eat them and die...switch to reusable cloth bags. I did this and many stores (like ShopRite) offer a discount when you BYOB ;-) You may buy them in your local shopping market like I did or here are a couple of places to order cloth bags online: http://www.reusablebags.com/ (for individual orders); http://www.enviro-tote.com/ (for bulk and customizable orders). Support bans on plastic bags in your community – *see how San Francisco did it! (*visit source page below).

» EAT SMART! - Eat seafoods that don’t hurt sea turtles and other marine animals. Print out a copy of the Monterey Bay Aquarium pocket guide and tuck it in your purse or wallet for reference: http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch…

» SHARE THE INFO! - Join other people like you who care about sea turtles and are getting involved in campaigns to change policies to protect sea turtles and their pals. Check out these Web sites for more information:

» State of the World’s Sea Turtles - http://www.seaturtlestatus.org

» Seaturtle.org - http://www.seaturtle.org

» Oceana.org - http://www.oceana.org/north-america/what…

» Caribbean Conservation Corporation - http://www.cccturtle.org

Source(s):

For more information from my source, please visit: http://www.greatturtlerace.com/

Answer 4

You can help, every person that gets interested in conservation is important, if you think that there is nothing physical you can do there is always recycling at home, saving water and the easiest is tell everybody to protect the sea turtles, the ocean an the environment.

Answer 5

The main reasons of turtle population decline are:
Poaching,
Egg Poaching,
Decline in nesting sites,
Death due to modern fishing vessels,
Killing for fun and food,
&
Pollution.

EACH AND EVERY INDIVIDUAL CAN DO A LOT.

Yes if you want to save our ecology and turtles you can join any nature conservation NGO working in this field.

You can raise the issue with government.

You can start a signature campaign.

You can do some nature education work with schools and colleges and ask them to join to save our endengered wildlife and forests and all creatures.

Answer 6

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Source(s):

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Answer 7

Yo man just save them!!..

Source(s):

an then some!!..

Answer 8

leather backs are endangered because of humans.Most stores carry turtle meat and most people on boats or by just littering you can kill sea turtle and other animals.For example,
if one day you decide to check on Internet website of endangered animals than you'll find million of beautiful
animals that are endangered.One animal that is endangered is a snake that lives in North America that is beginning to get endangered simply for the reason everyone thinks snakes are dangerous.Well they are not thanks to Snake we live,just because snakes eat mice and if they don't then we die.

Source(s):

Miami Mueseum of Science