Dermochelys coriacea (leatherback turtle)

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Dermochelys coriacea (leatherback turtle)
foto's zijn gemaakt op Zoni Beach,
Culebra, Puerto Rico
Juni/Juli 2008

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De Dermochelys coriacea (leatherback turtle)  is de grootste schildpad/reptiel nog levend op de wereld.
Volwassen dieren kunnen 2 meter worden en tot 900 kg wegen.
Ook is de Dermochelys coriacea (leatherback turtle)  de enigste zeeschildpad die geen hard schild heeft.
In plaats van een schild heeft de Dermochelys coriacea (leatherback turtle)  een verdikte laag leerachtig vel van ongeveer 4cm dik.
Opvallend zijn van jongst af aan al de twee grote en goed ontwikkelde voor-flippers wat de Dermochelys coriacea in staat steld om zeer grote afstanden in verschillende zeeen van verschillende landen af te leggen.
Een van de belangrijkste punten bij bescherming van de Dermochelys coriacea (leatherback turtle) is hierdoor samenwerking van de landen waar de Dermochelys coriacea (leatherback turtle)  op zijn trektochten langs komt, niet 1 land maar meerdere landen zijn verantwoordelijk voor de toekomst van de
Dermochelys coriacea (leatherback turtle).

Vrouwelijke Dermochelys coriacea (leatherback turtle) leggen ongeveer 100 eieren per keer in het zand van tropische stranden.
Gedurende een aantal weken leggen de vrouwtjes een paar nesten met een tussen periode van 8-12 dagen, een ware kracht-inspanning.
Na 60-65 dagen komen de jongen uit het ei gemiddeld 7-8cm lang en een gewicht van 40-50 gram, de voor-flippers zijn bijna even lang als hun lichaam wat ze een komisch uiterlijk geeft, maar waardoor ze gelijk snel en hard kunnen zwemmen.

Hierbij willen we Prudence hartelijk bedanken voor de info. en de prachtige foto's vooral de foto's waar op
de juvenile Dermochelys coriacea (leatherback turtle) net in het water zijn en hard opweg naar open zee vinden we zeer speciaal om te zien.

Bedankt Prudence

Schildpaddenforum. net Team

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SAN MATEO COUNTY TIMES (California) 20 July 08 Stanford turtle report details reptiles' migration pattern (Sarah Frier)
The world is now one step closer to saving the endangered leatherback turtle.
Stanford researcher George Shillinger led the first large data set tracking of the turtles, and the findings, published this week, show a distinct migration pattern.
"Because we've learned, really for the first time, where this population of leatherback turtles is going and the characteristics of the ocean environment they're responding to, we're able to predict the habitat and better manage and conserve the species," said co-author Steve Bograd, a research oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The new turtle movement data, paired with information about fishing activity, can give insight about where the species is at greatest risk.
Shillinger said the next step is to reach out to governments and fisheries and talk about restricting access seasonally, as the turtles move southwest through the Pacific to the South Pacific Gyre.
He said that fishermen often accidentally hook on to a turtle flipper, then slice off the flipper with a machete to avoid having to wrestle with the turtles. And a turtle missing a flipper is a dead turtle.
"Nobody wants to kill leatherbacks," Shillinger said. "It's more like, 'Oh, man, we're going to lose a hook,' and it's a hassle."
With threats like fishing and climate change, the leatherback population has declined more than 90 percent in 20 years in the Eastern Pacific, and less than 1,000 adult females remain, Shillinger said.
And if the Pacific migration corridor is protected, there will be collateral benefits for other species.
"Food begets food," Shillinger said. "All of a sudden you've got this big soup of wildlife."
The tracking tags, attached like a backpack, do not hurt the turtles and are designed to degrade and fall off after about two years.
One of the 46 tagged turtles swam south along the coast of Central America instead of across the ocean. It's likely that the coastal course was more popular in the past; it makes sense because of the productivity of the area, Shillinger said. But that type of leatherback has likely been reduced in numbers by human activity, he said.
The researchers were more surprised that the majority of turtles decided to hang out in the South Pacific Gyre, which Bograd describes as an ocean desert.
"For the first time, we have this information on where they're going and what they're doing when they get there," Bograd said. "We need to try to apply these results into some sort of policy decision."
To do that, they have to win the hearts and minds of the people without alienating fishermen, government or industry, Shillinger said.
Packaging the complicated science for the public started with schools — like Bullis-Purissima Elementary School in Los Altos — and the Great Turtle Race program. Leatherback turtles have been a focus of marine science and conservation education there. In the Great Turtle Race, the students sponsored and cheered for a turtle as it migrated toward the international dateline this summer.
"The whole point of it is to raise awareness," fourth-grader Anna Garverick said.
Swaying foreign governments might be harder than swaying elementary schoolers, but the team of researchers and oceanographers thinks that as long as they present good science, changes will come step by step.
"Leatherbacks are the flagship of the marine environment," Shillinger said. "They're right up there with polar bears."
http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_9942539?source=rss

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REUTERS INDIA 04 April 08 Gazans eat endangered turtle "as good as Viagra"
Gaza: A rare giant sea turtle caught on a beach near Gaza City was slaughtered and eaten by Palestinian fishermen who said its blood was an aphrodisiac, among other therapeutic qualities.
As the turtle's throat was slit on Thursday night in front of a crowd, one fisherman said a sip of its blood was "as good as Viagra", referring to the popular anti-impotence treatment.
Children were later seen using a part of the shell as a surfboard.
Based on a description of the turtle's size and shell, Yaniv Levy, an Israeli expert on sea turtles, said he believed it was the endangered Leatherback turtle. Leatherbacks normally weigh between 300-500 kg, he said.
"It's very rare. We don't know a lot about the Leatherback's population in the Mediterranean ... All we know is that they're here and they are under threat," Levy told Reuters by phone.
He said up to three Leatherbacks reach the Israeli coastline each year. Israel pulled troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005 but continues to control its coastline, air space and major goods crossings.
A Reuters cameraman said the fishermen collected the giant turtle's blood and gave it to children suffering from trauma and adults with back problems.
"I call it a super turtle. That's the biggest turtle on earth today. It can dive up to one kilometre," Levy said.
"It's unfortunate of course to see such a rare animal being slaughtered. It's such a unique opportunity to learn about these guys." he added.
Israel tightened a cordon of the impoverished Gaza Strip in June after Hamas Islamists seized control of the territory from rival forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement.
A smaller Leatherback was caught off the Gaza coast last month but the turtle was released after fishermen discovered it carried a tag classifying it as an endangered species.
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-32854820080404

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MIAMI HERALD (Florida) 02 January 08 Turtle expert saving nests - An expert on turtles and how rampant beach development has destroyed their nests has been recruited by Costa Rica's government to help prevent a similar situation there. (Gretel Sarmiento)
Boca Raton: Kirt Rusenko could very well be person of the year, to sea turtles at least.
For the longest time, the marine conservationist has been drawing attention to the lights and fishing practices affecting turtles at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center and other South Florida beaches.
Most recently, he welcomed a British film crew doing a turtle documentary, and late last year he was invited to Costa Rica to discuss the country's nesting decline.
The beach is almost pristine, Rusenko says of Playa Grande (Big Beach), which lies in the North Pacific Coast in the Guanacaste province and where he spent the majority of his weeklong visit.
It's developed with a few single-family homes. Nobody is allowed to build within 50 meters of a high tide line, which really means any allowed structure must go behind the dune vegetation.
As it sits, it would be easy for government officials to implement more protection laws or some type of light replacement program.
In South Florida where the presence of development is far more obvious, a roadway project stretching along State Road A1A north and south of Spanish River Park began installing embedded pavement lights, instead of overhead lights. For a beach such as this, it's still early.
''We are already developed,'' Rusenko says. ``And those other countries aren't.''
But that might not always be the case, which is why the country needed an expert not only on turtles but someone who has known development as a threat. Playa Grande wants to remain single-family houses and low density and avoid what appears to be happening in other areas where already condominiums with front and ocean views are being advertised.
Even now, without much development, the beach is seeing fewer and fewer turtle nests. The leatherback numbers have dropped dramatically, even more than at Gumbo Limbo.
In 1989 the number of female leatherbacks nesting on Playa Grande was 13,000. In 2006 it was 56. The good news, he says, is that people are really listening -- an indication being the invitation for him to meet with Costa Rica's president Oscar Arias Sanchez and Costa Rican congressmen.
Rusenko, 56, is finalizing ideas for a new tank area at Gumbo Limbo, a project he has been working on for five years. The plan is to have four tanks in total, two of which will look like aquariums and be 20 feet in diameter and 7-feet-deep.
If all goes smoothly, construction may begin this summer, he said.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/363731.html

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SUN-STAR DAVAO (Philippines) 05 October 07 Saving the turtles (Dorothy Bangayan)
It is a Chinese belief that good luck befalls the person who sets a turtle free. If so, then I hope that luck will rub off on those who gathered to witness the flurry of activities that ensued at the Pawikan Sanctuary of Punta Dumalag in Matina Aplaya on September 23.
Scheduled for release was a sea green turtle christened "Liloh." This seagreen was acclimatized first at the Pawikan Sanctuary before he is set free. The reptile is tagged so that sightings can be reported in the future.
Davao City Councilor Leonardo Avila, who officiated the send offs, explained that domesticated turtles forget how to survive in the wild. Instead, they keep returning to the sanctuary and gravitate towards humans thinking that they will be fed. It is the job of the Pawikan Task Force Davao to retrain the survival instincts before sending them back to the ocean.
As one is set free, one is taken in. Another happy event was the turning over of a Hawksbill turtle by former owner, Michael Tan through the help of Vice Mayor Sara Duterte.
Michael rescued the turtle six years ago from some fishermen who were planning to kill it for the shell. Purchasing it for 500 pesos, he kept it under his care, until the day his uncle started talking about turtle soup.
VM Sara convinced him to surrender the pet to the sanctuary. Among the five kinds of pawikans, it is the hawksbill that is critically endangered because of their tortoise shell that are made into combs and bracelets. Hopefully this one can be rehabilitated and be set free in due time.
Originally intended to be a coal plant by the Aboitiz, this stretch of beach is now turned over to the DENR and to the city of Davao after turtle sightings.
In what is the only pawikan sanctuary and nesting site in an urbanized city, 2,638 turtles have hatched within the two years that it has been established.
The place is kept guarded and made conducive for nesting. No lights and loud sounds. After they nest, the eggs are transferred to a hatchery. Aside from poachers and animals, the eggs must be protected from seawater or rain.
The survival rate, if left on their own is only 30 percent. Now, the survival rate has shot up to 90 percent Once out on the sea, only one or two turtles in a thousand survive, a rate of 1 percent.
Pawikans return to nest on their birthplace after thirty years. This means that Punta Dumalag has long been a nesting site. If this spot was left unprotected, it could mean the extinction of pawikans.
Trading, collecting, transporting, inflicting injury and killing are all illegal acts that are punishable by law with a minimum of three months to six years in prison depending on the species. A ban on fishing is also imposed in the area.
Because of this, it has become a spawning area for fishes, as evidenced by the silvery schools of fishes glinting in the sunlight on our visit. Other wildlife have flourished. Several species of birds have been spotted like the egret and the seagull.
Dolphins and whales are sometimes seen in the early morning. The area itself has already become rich in natural resources -- a source of food. Already, WWF has contacted them because a one ton leatherback from Japan was sighted at the Davao gulf.
"We are doing this for our children" Councilor Leo said. Future plans include setting up a marine learning center for educational purposes.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dav/2007/10/05/life/saving.the.turtles.html

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THE TRIBUNE (Fort Pierce, Florida) 27 August 05 Turtles stuck on beach by Fort Pierce after Katrina (Derek Simmonsen)
Hutchinson Island: While Hurricane Katrina mostly bypassed the Treasure Coast, its side effects took a swipe at one group of local residents: baby sea turtles.
Between 100 and 200 hatchlings were found scattered in seaweed and sargassum on the beach near the Fort Pierce South Jetty on Friday morning, and volunteers spent the day helping collect them so they could be returned to the ocean later.
The turtles might have hatched on Wednesday or Thursday night and been caught in seaweed and pushed back to shore by heavy waves and wind, said Bob Ernest, president of Ecological Associates in Jensen Beach.
"They all looked like they hatched. They just came the natural way out of their nests and happened to do that at a bad time," he said.
In addition to the hatchlings, scientists also reported damage to sea turtle nests up and down the Treasure Coast, although the damage was not nearly as bad as what occurred during last year's hurricanes.
Local residents first noticed the hatchlings, evenly divided between loggerhead and green sea turtles, near the jetty early Friday morning. Krista Muccino, 16, came to the beach to surf with her friends when she saw one of the turtles.
"I said, 'Oh my God! There's a sea turtle,'" she said. "Then we were walking up and down and there's a million of them. They were everywhere."
Other beachgoers reportedly saw the turtles in different spots and alerted police. About a dozen people spent the day combing through tangles of seaweed and sargassum on the beach, battling rain, strong winds and heavy waves as they looked for surviving turtles.
Lisa Paylor, a receptionist with the Humane Society of St. Lucie County, was one of several volunteers from the office who came to help.
"They're all tangled up and meshed up in there," she said. "They can't crawl out."
The white-bottomed green turtles and slightly smaller, dark loggerheads were placed in buckets with sand, seaweed and a little water and taken to Ecological Associates, where scientists planned to hold them until they could be released back into the water. Workers hoped to send them out Friday night or sometime tonight, depending on weather conditions, Ernest said.
If not, they will be kept in a rehabilitation center and taken offshore to be returned to the wild. The green turtles are endangered and the loggerheads are threatened, Ernest said.
Ernest said the turtles likely came out of about two or three nests on Hutchinson Island.
"If these folks hadn't started collecting them, they would have perished in the sun," he said.
The jetty was the only area that saw hatchlings beach, mainly because the currents in the area helped push seaweed onto the shore there, said Erik Martin, scientific director for Ecological Associates.
In addition to the hatched turtles, the storm also hurt sea turtle nests at various locations on Hutchinson and Jupiter islands. Based on the nesting surveys they conduct, scientists estimated about 200 loggerhead nests, three green turtle nests and three leatherback turtle nests were destroyed, Martin said.
That was minimal compared to the amount of damage that last fall's hurricanes did to the nests, when about 75 percent of the green turtle nests were destroyed and 25 to 30 percent of loggerhead nests were damaged, Martin said. Katrina destroyed about 5 percent of the loggerhead nests and about 1 percent of the green turtle nests in the area.
"Percentage-wise, that's not bad for having gone through a storm that's passed pretty close by," Martin said. "It's certainly something the turtles could recover from."
Additionally, some sea turtle eggs might be ruined by saltwater brought in by higher tides and heavy wave action, Martin said. Normal amounts of saltwater seeping into the ground doesn't damage the nests, but the extra water from the storms can stop development of the eggs.
"There is a potential that the effects of the storm will go beyond what we've seen," he said.
It was not clear whether there was any difference between nest damage reported in renourished beach areas and natural beaches, Martin said. St. Lucie County Erosion District Manager Richard Bouchard said the beach fared well after the storm, although there was some drop-off in the Fort Pierce area around the jetty.
Elsewhere in the region, 29 adult loggerhead turtles were released Friday morning at Sebastian Inlet State Park in Melbourne Beach by the Florida Park Service and National Marine Fisheries Service. The 4-year-old turtles were part of the Turtle Excluder Device program, which tested commercial fishing equipment fitted with devices that allow turtles to pass through nets while still trapping small animals, like shrimp.
The Indian River Lagoon was an ideal location for the release, because it allows the turtles access to the Atlantic Ocean for migration, according to the park service.
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,2545,TCP_16736_4032314,00.html

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Bedankt Eli Garcia

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 Bedankt Eli Garcia

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