Current Event 19: “Steep Decline in Giant Sea Turtles Seen off US West Coast”

 Olivia Cevasco

Mr. Ippolito

AP Biology - C Even

16 April 2021

Current Event 19: “Steep Decline in Giant Sea Turtles Seen off US West Coast”

Press, Associated. “Steep Decline in Giant Sea Turtles Seen off US West Coast.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, 8 Apr. 2021, www.usnews.com/news/news/articles/2021-04-08/steep-decline-in-giant-sea-turtles-seen-off-us-west-coast. 

The article “Steep Decline in Giant Sea Turtles Seen off the US West Coast” addresses the devastating decrease in the leatherback sea turtle population on the West Coast. As early as 40 years ago, scientists began documenting the number of stranded sea turtles along the West Coast and found that leatherback sea turtles—whose species has existed since dinosaur times—were frequently stranded and often migrate from other parts of the world—as far as 7,000 miles away—to colder West Coast beaches where there are an abundance of jellyfish. However incredible this species and its long migration pattern is, leatherback turtles are going extinct—and fast.

(Source: Wikipedia)

According to a recent study, there has been an 80% decrease in the number of leatherback foragers on the California coastline in the past 30 years, 5.6% annual decline. The quantity of adult female leatherbacks nesting and laying eggs on West Coast beaches has decreased from tens of thousands to around 1,400. To make matters worse, the decline in the leatherback population isn’t just documented in California, but on the beaches of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and other places. “If you find the decline in one place, that might have a number of causes, but if you find the same estimate of decline in two places that indicates something much more serious,” said Daniel Pauly, who was not involved in the study but is a fisheries professor at the University of British Columbia and an advocate for limiting commercial fishing to help marine ecosystems. The study notes that the sharp decline in the leatherback population is primarily due to the reduction of available nesting beaches due to human activity. We occupy beaches and no longer share them with the turtles. Commercial fishing, especially for swordfish, causes entanglement of the leatherback turtles in nets and other fishing equipment that can suffocate and kill them. Additionally, leatherback eggs are considered a delicacy (in some cultures), and people poach the eggs from the beach to eat and sell. Scott Benson, who co-authored the study, said that “There is an opportunity right now to stop the decline, but we must seize that opportunity immediately and that will require an international effort by all the nations this animals interacts with. If nothing is done to reverse this course, this population will become, essentially, extinct in the Pacific Ocean.” Fortunately, American lawmakers, like California’s Senator Diane Feinstein, are proposing legislation to phase out fishing with large nets that cause leatherback entrapment, since these phasing out methods have proved successful in California and Hawaii. But reducing the number of fishing nets isn’t the solution to this massive problem. 

The declining leatherback population is just one of many species that are threatened by human activity and heading towards extinction. And while effective legislation can certainly help prevent more leatherback deaths due to entrapment, if we want to save this population—and the countless other species facing extinction—we must first preserve the ecosystems in which these creatures live. And this is an international effort. We must reverse our tendency to destroy habitats in order to reap profit, and we must increase conservation efforts. In 2015, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration launched an initiative to reduce the number of leatherback eggs pillaged on CA beaches. But if we are to protect this population to the fullest of our ability, we need initiatives to provide leatherbacks beaches for nesting, waters sans commercial boats, and we must work to eliminate the human actions that threaten the species. 

I decided to review this article because, as a coastal CA native, I’m interested in both aquatic life and scientific studies from CA. This article’s strengths lie in its informal tone and diction which helps the reader understand many of the key concepts. There were also a variety of aspects covered, such as the problem, the cause, legislative efforts, and other initiatives that helped me understand the full scope of the issue. There was also plentiful data used from the original study. However, I would have liked to see more solutions presented on this issue. What is the real solution to this international issue? How do we elevate it from a West Coast concern to a global concern? I had to try to piece this together since the article discussed a few separate initiatives that obviously won’t solve the whole issue. Overall, this article is timely, well-written, engaging, and strikes a nerve in those of us who should care more about the environment.