Prevent the Killing of Sea Turtles

I have lived in California all my life, and volunteered at the California Science Center as a host of the marine ecosystem. I worked in the fish tank greeting guest, informing them out the fishes, as well interesting facts about specific fish and yet I was clueless of critical issues that marine animals face. There are thousands of different living species in oceans. Sea turtles are one of the many endangered species in our oceans. For more than 100 million years sea turtles have lived in various open waters and along coasts around the world. They play an important role in the marine ecosystem chain. There is seven different species of sea turtles that have been classified as endangered and yet the hunting of these animals has not been banned. Humans are the main reason for the disappearance of sea turtles; they are hunted for their eggs, shells, meat and skin. This petition will help decrease the extinction of sea turtles; force the government to prevent individuals from hunting sea turtles, and inform them about sea turtles, and preserve their habitat. Also, the U.S Fish and Wild Life Services should continue their involvement to help preserve sea turtles, by enforcing the laws against hunting and selling sea turtles.
      The central cause for the extinction of sea turtles is that they are being hunted to have their bodies ripped apart and sold in illegal markets. According to the Sea Turtle Conservancy organization, only “1,000 out of 10,000 sea turtles survive each year, and this is not just caused by nature’s challenges, but also the threats that humans place on these animals” and it’s because of our needs that they are becoming extinct. The Sea Turtle Conservancy also states “sea turtle population has decreased by 90% in the past 100 years”, and the cause is the demand of shells in the illegal trade market. For example, Hawksbill (one of the seven species of turtles) is attracting hunters because of their brown and gold, beautiful shells that are made to create fine jewelry. Tourist are unware that the products they pay for come from real sea turtles and because of their purchase they have caused one, if not two, turtles to vanish.
     Not only does hunting sea turtles for their body parts cause them to become extinct, but also commercial fishing has killed thousands of turtles. The Sea Turtle Conservancy articulates that commercial fishing is intended to capture fish and sell them in the market, but it’s causing sea turtles to get trapped in the nets leading “150,000 turtles to drown each year”. To help this issue the United States and commercial shrimp trawl industries have created Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs), a cage that has a grid bar to catch fish into a net and an opening to allow bigger fish to push out and escape. Although, commercial fishing industries are required to have TED’s, not all fishers have completed this requirement, meaning that sea turtles are still being captured. Informing individuals about the harm of commercial fishing will cause it to become a talked about topic, and commercial fishers will be forced to have TED’s, or else be banned from fishing.
     Banning individuals from hunting sea turtles requires world wide support. Signing my petition will help sea turtles survive but also protecting their habitat (our local beaches) you will help them reproduce and stay alive. Sea Turtles depend on beaches for nesting, and to my surprise the World Wildlife fund argues that “uncontrolled costal development, vehicle traffic on beaches and other human activities have directly destroyed or disturbed sea turtles nesting” in many beaches. Besides our parties and piers on the beaches we are also killing sea turtles and other marine animals with our trash. According to Sea Turtle Conservancy, more than 100 marine animals are killed each year due to plastic debris and thousands of turtles accidentally swallow the plastic. It all starts with telling a couple friends who will tell a couple more until the conservation of sea turtles spreads like wildfire. If we raise awareness we can protect the habitat of sea turtles and not be the cause of their death.
      Sea turtles are one of the many innocent animals in our oceans; these turtles play a fundamental role in the marine’s ecosystem. You might be telling yourself; why should I care? I don’t live in the ocean; I have more important things to do. If we were to take one minute out of our busy lives to realize that there are bigger problems in the world than our internet running slow or our phone being broken; we will notice that the numbers of sea turtles is decreasing drastically all due to our needs. There is no reason in killing a sea turtle; the only thing that is gained is a 10 minute satisfaction of eating their meat and eggs, and the value of having their body parts wrapped around our necks on a chain. We might as well be guilty of murder because that’s exactly what we are doing. Sea turtles are a group of reptiles in the oceans that have lived in our oceans for many years just like humans. Just because animals don’t speak that doesn’t give us the right to drown them to death. Take one minute away from fixing your television screen and make a difference that will help the rest of the world.
     The population of sea turtles has decreased and we are the ones to blame. They are being hunted for their eggs, shells and meat. Signing this petition you will save the life of a sea turtle and allow the diversity of the marine ecosystem to continue. We are murdering thousands of turtles by drowning them to death. They are eating our toxic plastics because turtles mistake them as food. We are killing the population of sea turtles. There is only one simple solution to this issue, and that is to prohibit individuals from capturing and killing these animals. It all begins with simple steps; we inform individuals, and we let our government know that there should be more action taken on protecting these animals. We also want the U.S Fish and Wildlife services to help us raise awareness about sea turtle issues, and enforce the law of commercial fishing and illegal trade market on sea turtles. I won’t kill sea turtles, and when they are completely gone from this world I will not be part of the blame because I am aware and fighting for a change.