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Leatherback Sea Turtle Could Be Extinct Within 20 Years at Last Stronghold in the Pacific Ocean

An international team led by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has documented a 78 percent decline in the number of nests of the critically endangered leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) at the turtle’s last stronghold in the Pacific Ocean. [singlepic id=916 w=320 h=240 float=center] The study, published online Feb. 26 in the Ecological Society of America’s scientific online journal Ecosphere, reveals leatherback nests at Jamursba Medi Beach in Papua Barat, Indonesia — which accounts for 75 percent of the total leatherback nesting in the western Pacific — have fallen from a peak of 14,455 in 1984 to a low of 1,532 in 2011. Less than 500 leatherbacks now nest at this site annually. Thane Wibbels, Ph.D., a professor of reproductive biology at UAB and member of a research team that includes … Read entire article »

Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Conservation, Divetalking, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, Leatherback, ocean, Preservation, Reefs, Reference, Stories, Turtles

Up to 20,000 sea turtle eggs crushed by bulldozers on Caribbean island

By Miguel Llanos, msnbc.com   Thousands of leatherback sea turtle hatchlings and eggs were crushed over the weekend by bulldozers and excavators used to divert a river on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. “Unfortunately the engineers in charge bulldozed a far greater portion of beach than necessary, and they did destroy many viable nests,” the Papa Bois Conservation group posted on its Facebook page. It wasn’t immediately clear how much of an impact the tragedy would have on the critically endangered species, but the group noted that it happened on “the world’s most densely populated leatherback nesting beach.” Papa Bois said it wasn’t opposed to diverting the river, since it had been eroding not only a local eco-tourist hotel but the nesting area itself. But it noted that the work was done without supervision by “any of the … Read entire article »

Filed under: Conservation, Divetalking, Earth, Education, Events, extinction, ocean, Preservation, Reefs, Reference, Report, Turtles

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