Green Sea Turtle, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands
If you feel like life is miserable, and there is no hope for improvement, perhaps it is not your fault. It seems that we are living in the Golden Age of Doomsayers. While there have always been death, destruction, and hardship around the globe, it is only in recent decades that those miseries have been made manifest 24/7. Only in recent decades have experts and their models been given center stage, replacing common sense and leadership in times of potential peril. Only in recent decades have people made a career out of shaming others for enjoying life too much. Some of this is driven by personality, some by political agendas, and some by good intentions looking for purpose. After all, no body is going to donate to the "Things are Going Perfectly Well Foundation."
"Black" Green Sea Turtle, La Jolla, CA
Those of us who love the ocean are often targeted by those who tell us that our very oceans are at risk of imminent peril and that if we don't donate to their cause today, it will soon be too late. I remember receiving letters from an environmental protection foundation back in the early 1970's that quoted Jacques Cousteau in warning that if we didn't act immediately the oceans would "be dead in twenty years". Over the next twenty years, developed nations did make some small changes to how they treated the ocean, most of the world did nothing. The oceans didn't die in twenty years, nor thirty, nor forty. During that time, I've seen biodiversity and population numbers decrease in some ways, and increase in some ways. Sometimes that change was cyclical, sometimes it was caused by human activity, and sometimes no one knew why.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that there are not some legitimate human caused threats to specific habitats and species. I am very concerned about micro plastics in the ocean and their impact on sea birds and suspension feeding organisms. I am concerned about destruction of critical habitat, especially of lagoons and estuaries. I am concerned about overfishing and unsustainable fishing methods such as those that have decimated the Vaquita Porpoises of the upper Gulf of California. Most of these real threats are centered around nations where poverty, lack of liberty, human rights abuses and corruption make concern for the environment a luxury. Still, I am encouraged when I see some species that were quite uncommon decades ago now thriving. One of those species that is familiar to many of us is the Green Sea Turtle, Chelonia mydas (Linnaeus, 1758).
"Yellow" Green Sea Turtle in school of Yellowtail, offshore Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur
In my time in the ocean through the 1970's, 80's and 90's it was a rare treat to see a Green Sea Turtle in Hawaii or Mexican waters. In 1978 the Green Sea Turtle was placed under the Endangered Species Act. Now, in the right habitat, throughout much of their range, they are pretty much a given. These are not just anecdotal observations. Per NOAA Green Sea Turtle populations increased 5% per year for decades in Hawaiian waters. There numbers have also increased significantly in Florida and along Mexico's Pacific coast. In many locations their status has been improved, going from endangered to threatened. This is good news, and something to celebrate.
"Hawaiian" Green Sea Turtle with wifi installed. Since tourists have been placed on covid timeout, Sea Turtles have been known to binge watch back to back episodes of Flipper, Sea Hunt, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
It is true the Green Sea Turtle populations have not recovered everywhere equally. Poverty drives illegal turtle and egg harvesting and plastic pollution. Cultural practices also keep turtle and egg harvesting at unsustainable levels. Corruption allows resorts to be built on important nesting beaches. These are human issues with ecological symptoms. The only solution here will be sustained educational outreach, not the eco-imperialism that some advocates espouse. In the mean time, we can swim with turtles.
Bored Sea Turtle- "I never thought I'd say this, but I miss those obnoxious sea monkeys and their comical efforts at swimming".
Sometimes, actually quite a lot of the time, humans do things pretty well. When they do, we should acknowledge it, enjoy it, and be thankful.
Millions of years ago sea turtles left the ocean, crawled on to land...
shed their Duck Feet, and became Desert Tortoises. Yes, as a matter of fact, I did check my sources on that.
Commentaires