It has inhabited the Earth for over 110 million years. But tourism may push the leatherback turtle to the brink of extinctionThe Las Baulas National Marine Park lies outside Tamarindo, Costa Rica. Within its 54,000 acres (220 km²) exists the largest nesting colony of leatherback turtles on the nation's Pacific coast.
But if developers have their way, this national park will be degraded to a wildlife reserve, opening it up to tourism. This, conservationists warn, will devastate a turtle population that has already dwindled by 90 percent over the last two decades, with no sign of recovery.
The market for the eggs of these ancient creatures -- the largest of all living sea turtles -- has caused collapses of its populations in several countries, including Malaysia and Thailand. Their ingestion of human plastic waste has not helped matters much either.
According to an old Korean proverb, "A turtle travels only when it sticks its neck out." Sadly, the travel industry may break that fragile, prehistoric neck.
GET INVOLVED
- Sign a Sea Turtle Restoration Project letter urging the Costa Rican legislature to maintain the current protections for the leatherback turtle
- Take the Sea Turtle Restoration Project Seafood Pledge
- They May Have Leather Backs, But Inside It's Plastic (April 13, 2009)
- Tata vs. Turtles (March 12, 2009)
- Sea Turtle Victory (January 31, 2009)
- One Man's Trash is All Our Trash (January 12, 2009)
- California Moves to Protect Endangered Turtles (July 25, 2008)
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment