The Leatherback Sea turtle

The Dermochelys coriacea

About
All the way in the deeps of the Indian and Atlantic seas, The leatherback sea turtle

exists, also known as the Dermochelys coriacea. It is the largest sea turtle in existence, or for

now.

Figure 1; Leatherback sea turtle pictures taken by Troy Mayne in a world wildlife article.

The leatherback turtle can reach up to 3 meters and weighs 600 up to 1,100 kilograms.

These immense species are a part of the Dermochelyidae family and have kept their form on

planet earth for 150 million years ever since the age of the dinosaurs. The hard shells give it

its name as these species are assembled “of a layer of thin, tough, rubbery skin, strengthened

by thousands of tiny bone plates that make it look leathery.” ("Information About"). These

Turtle’s main food source is Jellyfish, a good source for nutrients. These species are K

species, so they can survive in cold environments such as 40 degrees Fahrenheit, live for a

long period of time up to fifty years, Female turtles come back to shore every 2 to 4 years to
nest, and hatch around one hundred days in an 8 to 12 day span, although, to reproduce and

be healthy, they need the proper food, nutrients, and habitat. Leatherback turtles are

tough swimmers who can dive to depths of four thousand feet and stay underwater for up to

eighty-five minutes.

Location
These turtles can mostly be found in India, and the Atlantic Ocean, some parts of

Africa. Pacific leatherbacks migrate from nesting beaches in the Coral Triangle all the way to

the California coast to feed on the abundant jellyfish every summer and fall. ("Leatherback

turtle").

Figure 2; World map of locations of Leatherback Sea turtles around the world

Threats

Leatherback sea turtles have been on the endangered list since 1978. Despite their widespread

range, the turtle population has plummeted by a ton considering intensive egg collection,
fisheries bycatch, poaching, and the ingestion of plastics and pollutants. Sea turtles rely on

shores for nesting and laying eggs. Activities onshore, such as sedimentation from land

clearance and nutrient run-off from agriculture, also damage and destroy turtle feeding

habitats like coral reefs and seagrass beds. “Their shells and skins are also used to make a

variety of objects like jewelry, sunglasses, tourist trinkets, instruments, and wall hangings.”

("Consumption of Turtle").

Figure 3; Dead leatherback sea turtle hatchlings and smashed eggs are seen on the island of Trinidad after
heavy equipment was used to divert a river on July 8. Marc De Verteuil, NBC news

“Worldwide, hundreds of thousands of sea turtles a year are accidentally caught in

shrimp trawl nets, on longline hooks and in fishing gillnets.” ("Leatherback turtle") Because

Sea turtles need to breathe at the surface, many of them die when caught. Bycatch, often

known as accidental capture, is a severe threat to leatherback turtles. As fishing activity

grows, this issue becomes increasingly serious. Overfishing has resulted in a fall in the

leatherback population during the last two decades. With their long travels across the ocean,

Atlantic leatherbacks are at risk of being caught in longline fisheries. As the Leatherback
turtle’s main food source is jellyfish, it makes them vulnerable to ingesting floating plastic

bags, which kills them. Microplastics are toxic chemicals found in plastics, digesting these

chemicals can block the sea turtles digestive system causing an increase in many deaths.

They can also get tangled in all the plastics as they are found in their habitat. Egg collecting

and poaching lead to illegal trades, Despite the fact that most nations have laws protecting sea

turtles, the illegal trade of turtle eggs, meat, and shells continue to be a major threat to the

leatherback population. These creatures are collected for their meat and eggs, which are sold

to the market. The sale in turtle eggs is a large industry in several nations, providing money

to a large number of individuals.

Figure 4; Leatherback sea turtle eating jellyfish

Trophic cascade
 Leatherback sea turtles are vital to the ecosystem. They are primary consumers as

they are gelatinivores, eating jellyfish and sea squirts. Bigger predators on the third trophic

level such as killer whales hunt down smaller leatherback sea turtles. If an ecological

phenoninom is triggered, such as bycatch and egg collecting, the leatherback sea turtle

population plummets causing a cascade. The killer whales wont have as much food to feed

on, plummeting their population, and sea nettle population will increase by a ton as the sea

turtle population decreases, meaning less predators. Jellyfish are passive eaters, meaning

anything roaming around the sea goes in their mouths, such as zooplankton, comb jellies,

shrimp, and other small organisms. More jellyfish means less zooplankton. Less zooplankton

means more phytoplankton. “When too many nutrients are available, phytoplankton may

grow out of control and form harmful algal blooms (HABs). These blooms can produce

extremely toxic compounds that have harmful effects on fish, shellfish, mammals, birds, and

even people.” (NOAA).

Figure 5; leatherback sea turtle web

What would happen if they went extinct?

 If leatherback sea turtles become extinct, dune vegetation would lose a key supply of

nutrients, become less healthy, and be unable to protect the dunes, causing greater erosion.

Once again, all aspects of an ecosystem are vital; if one is lost, the others will follow. Many

marine species would perish if seagrass beds were not there. This would have a negative

impact on our life, as many of the marine animals that we take for food and nutrition would

vanish.

Solutions

There are four main problems on why the leatherback sea turtle is extinct, illegal

trades are caused by egg collecting and poaching.

although there are many laws already stating it to be illegal to poach and sell the

turtles, many people still do it. It would be hard to stop people from poaching the leatherback

sea turtles, but if you were to stop them from selling it, there wouldn’t be a reason to poach.

A solution for poaching and selling the sea turtles, is setting up a patrol of people in favor of

helping the turtles, stopping people illegally selling turtles for unnecessary purposes, and

fining them, or in worst cases, arresting them. This could work as if a big group of people,

meaning more knowledge of where people sell them and getting to the root of the problem,

people would also feel more threatened as their life is on the line. The downside of this could

be that one group of people wouldn’t be able to stop a bunch of people in different countries

from doing this unless they have many different groups in different countries.

For egg collecting, the government could ban the ability to go to some beaches were

common known leatherback sea turtles nest, giving a fine for trespassing, to stop people

crossing the nesting areas and collecting their eggs. A downside could be people going at

night and when there’s no patrol on the beach.

 Pollution is a more severe and difficult problem, not only for the leatherback sea

turtles, but because they ingest these microplastics, people could make more biodegradable

products, although the downside is people might still buy the none biodegradable products

promoting people to keep making products with microplastics as the biodegradable products

aren’t as popular.

seeTURTLES
seeTURTLES is a conservation group determined to save the sea turtles, like the costa

Rica leatherbacks and many other types of sea turtles. “Our award-winning programs help

save sea turtle hatchlings on important nesting beaches around the world, work with the

tourism industry to end the turtle shell trade, and educate students and travelers about how to

help save sea turtles.” ("Consumption of Turtle"). They get together groups of people

wanting to help, traveling, doing volunteer groups, and educational programs. They have

already saved up 1 million dollars for local communities and conservations. “At least 500

hatchlings saved for every participant through our Billion Baby Turtles program.”

("Consumption of Turtle"). To look more into their program, go to their website and find out

more reasons on why to join their program. A downside is that you would need money to

travel and for fees. It is stated that all refunds are returned if any trips get canceled.

Join us and help save the leatherback sea turtle population! Take action today, not tomorrow.

Bibliography
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crushed-bulldozers-caribbean-island-flna873801.

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oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/phyto.html#:~:text=When%20too%20many%20nutrients

%20are,%2C%20birds%2C%20and%20even%20people. Accessed 26 Feb. 2021.

"Sea Turtle Conservation & Volunteer Tours." SEE turtles, www.seeturtles.org/turtle-tours.

Emilie C