Magnificent Ambassadors of the Sea
As I child I dreamed of riding on the backs of giant sea turtles in the ocean and exploring the depths of the sea with the all knowledgeable sea turtle as my guide. As I have grown older, I realize that the sea turtle is in an all out struggle for it's life as a species. A major contributor to its looming extinction is human activity that leads to the depleting of vital environments the sea Turtle needs to survive. As well as they have become over fished and hunted for their shells, meat and eggs. In many occasions they have became a nuisances to large net fisherman trying to score thousands of fish with one swipe of a gill net. It's heart breaking to see my childhood icon in such a way that they are facing extinction. the worse part is its mostly because people are unaware of the long term affects of their actions. Even more worse, I was guilty of some of these very actions myself. I think in general most people love turtles or at a minimum tolerate them. but rarely do you meet somebody how just hates turtles for some reason.Now I don't believe these people are evil villains hell bent on destroying turtles. i feel they just are unaware of what happens when a turtle mistakes a floating plastic bag with a jellyfish, its favorite snack.
it might not be a big deal, at the time, to utilize one time use plastic containers and discard them in the trash. that person might not realize that their plastic eventually makes its way to the ocean and joins up with millions of other pieces of plastic to form giant floating islands of garbage the size of Texas. were as this could b an interesting back drop for a Robinson Crusoe style adventure film, the reality is that all this plastic breaks down over time and becomes fish food, bird food, etc. then other animals eat them and so on up the food chain, all getting contaminated by plastic in their bellies. the cycle is vicious once it starts and completely devastating to ocean environments.
But good news is coming, new ways of human activity are have a global impact on the vitality of our oceans. People are getting educated about things that hurt the ocean and might not even realize that they are doing.Fisherman are developing special nets with escape panels for turtles in case they get caught by accident, poachers and egg hunters are learning that its very illegal to pursue their activities and that there are better ways to make money. people are living a greener lifestyle using less plastic and reducing their contribution to the plastic problem in the sea. It's all working is beautiful people learning from their mistakes, righting their sails and blazing a new path to a new way of life of harmony and co-existence with our glorious reptilian icons of the sea. The problem is most certainly not over and we need to keep educating new eco warriors everyday, but so far, our efforts are working. Help spread the love and the vision to save these magnificent ambassadors of the sea.