Take Action and Demand an End to the Hawksbill Sea Turtle Hunt, Now!

To: Shinzō Abe (Prime Minister of Japan)
Can you guess which species has ranked number 4 on the top 10 endangered animals list provided by OneKindPlanet.org? Well, if you said Hawksbill Turtles, you are correct. These beautiful sea turtles have played an important role in our ecosystem that people may not even be aware of. With their narrow, pointed beak, they are able to feast on sponges that are toxic to other animals. If they go extinct not only will your children never get to see these beautiful creatures, but it will also cause a negative effect on marine life. Although sea turtles are able to protect themselves from some predators, they are still prey to sharks and octopuses. Their biggest predator of all is humans. Imagine telling your children that you are the reason behind an animal's extinction.
Recently people have become informed about the negative outcomes of using plastic straws when videos and pictures have been published through social media. In fact, these disturbing images and videos have helped a movement happen and that is to get rid of plastic straws, replacing them with something more earth-friendly. We have successfully started to educate people of this serious problem, but there is also the problem of people who are killing these sea creatures to create jewelry out of them. According to recent studies, "scientists estimate that hawksbill populations have declined by 90 percent during the past 100 years." Which can be found in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Status Assessment for the Hawksbill Turtle.
Not many people are aware of this, but the Japanese have been using turtle shells as part of their culture for 300 years now. Japan has continued to hunt hawksbill turtles and sell them, which is illegal, but the Japanese government has not done enough to stop this from happening. Although some people may argue that it is a part of their culture, turtles are religious symbols to others, so it is just as important to keep them alive. Not only that, but sea turtles are important to our environment so without them the natural order can be disrupted, impacting other wildlife in different ways.
According to an article by SEE turtles, "In 1977 the trade of hawksbill shell was prohibited by CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. CITES is an international agreement to which voluntary parties (countries) adhere to." This agreement was made to help turtles from becoming endangered, but Japan has found a way to make themselves an exception to the CITES agreement due to Cuba making a proposal to change regulations under CITES so that it (the agreement) will allow them to sell and ship several stockpiled tons of the valuable shell to Japan. As a result, another organization— that is against what Japan is doing— has been sending scientists to do research on the situation. This organization is the Sea Turtle Conservancy which is an American nonprofit organization that has been helping turtles survive since 1959. According to David Godfrey, who is the executive director of Sea Turtle Conservancy, "It's not overly shocking to hear that the numbers were so large because we know how seriously the populations declined." Having someone who is a part of an organization that focuses and pours their life into trying to save turtles, but can't help the sea turtles because we can't do our part, which is simply to throw our trash away and keeping our environment clean. Think about it: this organization's mission is to educate, advocate and protect natural habitats and it is not being fulfilled due to people who have become ignorant to the truth that we are trashing our planet.
In conclusion, we must put an end to the demand for turtle products by not being consumers of these products. If people were to be educated on what their jewelry is made of and how it was made, they wouldn't want to wear it. Just think about how the turtle population has become minimized in our world due to people demanding more products made of this species and climate change— both caused by human decisions.