Sea a Turtle? Go Help It

Kenya is a country in East Africa, that is currently trying to persuade their residents to return sea turtles to the ocean. Today, sea turtles worldwide are threatened with extinction. An estimate shows that only 1 in 1,000 sea turtle eggs hatch and live to adulthood.

How can you help this problem? Sea turtles have many threats. A big amount of them come from pollution. A hefty ten to fifteen percent of turtles are sick from consuming plastic. Tons and tons of plastic are dumped into our beautiful oceans every year. Taking action as simple as picking up garbage on the shores of beaches may help to protect our precious sea turtles.

Nearly 500 million plastic straws are used everyday around the world. Most end up in our oceans. A four- inch straw ended up in the nostril of a sea turtle on the shore of Costa Rica. The straw blocked the turtle from breathing and could have ended up killing it. A team of scientists spent nearly 10 minutes trying to remove it. Once it was removed, they made sure it was healthy before releasing it back into the ocean. “Straws are useless and contribute to the 5.25 trillion pieces of marine trash that have ended up in our oceans”. says Figgener, an anti-straw campaigner. Is a useless piece of plastic really worth endangering marine life? I think not.

Fishing in the ocean is a highly common activity. Turtles can be used for their meat, shells, oil, and eggs. In Kenya, poaching of this endangered species is illegal, but the enforcement against killing the turtles is rare. Eating sea turtles is extremely common even in the United States. The conservation team in Kenya rewards fishermen for reporting turtle bycatches.

Conservationists are now protecting and monitoring the turtles during their nesting season. Global action is taking place with sea turtle programs that hope to not only help the turtles, but also help marine conservation. The SWOT program, which stands for The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, publishes global sea turtle data that is used by researchers, conservationists, teachers, agencies, and government officials.

There are countless ways you can make a positive difference in the lives of sea turtles! The future of their lives lay in the hands of us human beings!

                             Five Ways YOU Can Help!!         https://conserveturtles.org/

1.     Donate to a worthy Sea Turtle cause!

2.     Say NO to plastics!

3.     Make turtle friendly seafood choices!

4.      Hang on to balloons!

5.       Keep beaches clean when visiting!