Save the Turtles
“Nearly all species of sea turtle are now classified as endangered, with three of the seven existing species being critically endangered.”-World Wildlife Fund
Turtles are an Endangered Species. Pollution in the ocean threatens the lives of all sea turtles and is causing many to die each day. The chemicals from non reef safe sunscreen and from waste can genetically modify sea turtle hatchlings before they even make it to the ocean, causing them to be unfit for survival or never make it to the ocean entirely. If the turtle makes it to the ocean and survives infancy, the turtles must avoid eating and getting caught in the larger pieces of trash in the ocean. Turtles often get plastic shopping bags confused for jellyfish and get stuck in plastic 6-pack rings. Eating the plastic will kill the turtle and getting caught in the trash leaves the turtle unable to protect themselves from prey or find other food. Another common issue is the lack of knowledge of ocean safety. Wearing the right sunscreen, keeping your distance from marine life, and knowing how to respect the ocean is all plays a role in helping the ocean’s ecosystem survive.
Sea turtles play a key role in maintaining the ocean’s ecosystem. Right now, sea turtles are an endangered species, putting many other ocean systems at risk. Sea turtles maintain the sea grass and coral reefs, two organisms crucial to many other marine lives. Many other species rely on turtles to survive. As if the sea creatures lives were not enough to convince you of this issue, ocean pollution also affects or will begin to affect the daily lives of us humans. It will worsens water quality, ruin the beaches we love so much, can toxify the seafood many humans eat and etc. As a matter of fact, many of these situations are happening and worsening as of right now.
Neena: Hi! I am Neena Rim and I am passionate about conserving the earths wonderful bodies of water. I first became aware of this issue on a mission trip to the Philippines where we visited Manilla which contains an extremely polluted bay. I could not believe my eyes as I saw the bay's top layer completely covered in plastic and garbage for as much as I could see. I began research at home only to find out this bay was not even the worst. This shocking moment led me to a realization that change needs to happen in order to conserve the bodies of water we have left and try to repair the damages we have created.
Sara: My name is Sara and an interest of mine is marine biology. Growing up, I spent my summers visiting my family in Maui and I spend time snorkeling with the turtles on the coral reefs. During the past few years, I have watched the turtles and ocean reefs become sick from pollution and die. The situation of the turtles is well known but surprisingly it also just takes just a few years for the beautiful living coral reefs to turn brown and then disappear. I was motivated to make this website because this is an issue that is 100% preventable. The more we can educate each others on how we can save the turtles and the ocean, the more people can implement simple changes into their lives.
Sara's Personal Photo