"Jadilah Sahabat Penyu"

• Why are sea turtles endangered?

Sea turtles once navigated throughout the world’s oceans in huge numbers. But in the past 100 years, human demand for turtle meat, eggs, skin and colorful shells have reduced their populations. Destruction of feeding and nesting habitats and pollution of the world’s oceans are all taking a serious toll on remaining sea turtle populations. Many breeding populations have already become extinct, and some surviving species are being threatened to extinction. Sadly, only an estimated one in 1 to 1,000 will survive to adulthood. The natural obstacles faced by young and adult sea turtles are staggering, but it is the increasing problems caused by humans that are threatening their future survival.

• Why should humans protect sea turtles?

There are two major ecological effects of sea turtle extinction:
1. Green sea turtles, are one of the very few animals to eat sea grass. Like normal lawn grass, sea grass needs to be constantly cut short to be healthy and help it grow across the sea floor. Sea grass beds are important because they provide breeding and developmental grounds for many species of fish, shellfish and crustaceans. Without sea grass habitats, many of marine species would be lost. All parts of an ecosystem are important. If you lose one, the rest will eventually follow.

2. Beaches and dune systems do not retain nutrients well because of the sand, so very little vegetation grows on the dunes and no vegetation grows on the beach itself. Sea turtles use beaches and the lower dunes to nest and lay their eggs. Sea turtles deposit an average of about 100 eggs in each nest and lay between 3 and 7 nests during the nesting season. The unhatched nests, eggs and trapped hatchlings are good sources of nutrients for the dune vegetation, even the left over egg shells from hatched eggs provide some nutrients. As a result, dune vegetation is able to grow and become stronger with the presence of nutrients from turtle eggs.