Loggerhead Turtles (caretta caretta)

Deniz Karadere

LOGGERHEAD TURTLES

caretta caretta

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Loggerhead turtles (caretta caretta) are oceanic turtles located in multiple regions around the world, including the eastern and western coasts of the United States. They are under serious threat and are therefore being protected by several companies worldwide.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

They are easily recognized by their five pairs of lateral scutes which are reddish-brown and separated by thick yellow lines. Their neck and flippers match the colors of the shell, but are duller and paler. Differences in appearance may occur between sexes, as males tend to have narrower shells and longer tails. However they all have respectively large heads and strong jaws to support their remarkably carnivorous life.  They are considered to be one of the biggest species of sea turtles once they reach maturity, after around 35 years, as they become as big as 250 pounds and 3 feet in size.

GEOGRAPHICAL SCOPE AND POPULATION

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Sea turtles are highly migratory, hence it is really hard to identify their geographical location. However, most of the nesting grounds are located in warm and temperate locations. Some examples are Florida, Masirah Island and Mediterranean coasts such as Turkey and Greece. There are no known nesting areas located on the western coast of the United States, even though the climate is considered to be compatible. On the Atlantic side however, there are tons of nesting sites, starting from Southern Florida and reaching up to Southern Virginia. There are five recovery teams in total - Northern Recovery Unit, Peninsular Florida Recovery Unit, Dry Tortugas Recovery Unit, Northern Gulf of Mexico Recovery Unit, Greater Caribbean Recovery Unit - and they use nesting data to evaluate the status and trends of these turtle species. After an average of 15 years of research, these units have collected enough information to suggest that there have been more than 70,000 annual nests on the Atlantic coast of North America, 65,000 of it coming from nesting beaches in Florida. However, it is also noted that there is a 4% decline in the trend, which can reach up to 41% in some highly degraded environments.

In comparison to evaluating the population sizes on nesting grounds, it is much more difficult to determine the population of turtles underwater. According to the Recovery Plan for Loggerhead Turtles, “long-term in-water studies are needed in conjunction with surveys on nesting beaches to monitor population status and effectively track population changes, especially as recovery efforts are implemented and assessed.”.

LISTING

The species is listed as Threatened under the ESA since July 28,1978. There are a lot of factors threatening the species, and they are highly likely to move into the Endangered category unless these factors are not eliminated in the near future.

THREATS

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Loggerhead turtles encounter major threats both on and off the shore. Until they become hatchlings, and race to the sea, they are threatened by human activities that take place around the nesting beaches. Some examples are increased human presence, coastal construction and vehicular driving. These activities tend to harm nests by putting pressure on the sand that covers the eggs. So once the hatchlings are ready to leave their nests, they struggle to find their way out. This is the reason why these environments should be highly protected. In addition, there are also natural threats such as nest predation and beach erosion. Such circumstances are ones that are hard to suspect, however could still be prevented. One of the applied techniques is to cover the nest with a cage. This would eliminate any type of predator invasion as they would be unable to reach the eggs. This will also prevent human interaction. One last cause of hatchling death is artificial lighting. The powerful lights located around the beach may end up distracting the hatchlings and cause them to change their path. This is why nesting beaches are commonly pitch-black.

The threats only get worse once the Loggerhead hatchlings find a way into their natural habitat. The main causes are still human-related activities; fisheries' bycatch, boat collisions, debris, etc. Fishing nets and big lumps of debris are affecting many sea turtle populations, including the loggerhead turtles, as they incarcerate them and disable their movements. This is the most common cause of sea turtle deaths in the marine environment as they drift in the ocean and fail to reach the surface of the ocean to breathe. Other causes are diseases, parasites, habitat degradation (reefs) and predation.

RECOVERY PLAN

Recovery plans are actions taken by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to recover and protect endangered species. The main goal is to get the species off the list by limiting and/or eliminating the main threats. Because Loggerhead turtles are complex species that live on both terrestrial and oceanic environments, their recovery strategy needs to be as complex and diverse.

The recovery criteria for Loggerhead turtles spans around the idea of minimizing the main threats into the two simple environments, nesting (beaches) and in-water habitats.

Nesting Environment

Without protecting the nesting habitats of Loggerhead turtles, it is impossible to extract the species off of the list. These environments are critical; this species is highly selective with their nesting habitats and if they are unable to reproduce efficiently in these environments, they will become endangered. In order to conserve these sites, there are seven keystone activities that should be completed. These are;

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• monitoring and identifying important nesting beaches
• protecting and managing turtles on nesting beaches
• eliminating the capture of both female turtles and their eggs
• eliminating it through education
• eliminating it through laws
• eliminating coastal construction sites
• reducing nest predation by animals
• reducing nest predation by humans
• restricting access to beach
• restricting vehicular activity
• reducing effects of artificial lightings

In-Water Environment

Marine environments are where the Loggerhead turtles actually spend their lives. They are oceanic turtles and so they only use the land for nesting. These sites should be preserved to provide the species with a healthy and enduring life. The necessary actions are;

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• eliminating directed take
• eliminating incidental take (fisheries bycatch)
• reducing the effects of debris
• studying the impact of diseases on turtles
• ensuring the long-term protection of identified marine habitats
• preventing the degradation of reef habitats

PERSONAL ACTIONS

In 2013, I actively worked with WWF Turkey to preserve nesting grounds for Mediterranean Loggerhead turtles, and still continue to support them by adopting a hatchling every month, through donation. The active participation took place in Dalyan, Turkey, which is known to host one of the most important nesting beaches in the Mediterranean - Koycegiz (one of only 20 preserved beaches in the country for this reason). Here, I first started by learning more about the species; I learned about the way they reproduce and why they were threatened. Afterwards, they allowed me to step onto the beach which was under preservation and was restricted from any kind of human interaction. I woke up late at night (the time when loggerhead turtles prefer to reach ashore) and observed female turtles laying their eggs, and in the morning, covered the nests to limit any kind of predation. 

What can YOU do?

There are not many options as to what you can do to help the sea turtles, but you can still impact the situation tremendously through these limited options.  The first and most effective choice would be to adopt a hatchling through WWF's website. The money generated by your donation will be used  to protect hatchling nests all around the world . On top of that, cutting down on the use of plastic bags will be valuable, since it will diminish the debris in the long run. 

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If you would like to adopt sea turtles too, click here.

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REFERENCES

1. National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1998. Recovery Plan for U.S. Pacific Populations of the Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta). National Marine Fisheries Service, Silver Spring, MD. 
2. National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2008. Recovery Plan for the Northwest Atlantic Population of the Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta), Second Revision. National Marine Fisheries Service, Silver Spring, MD. 
3. http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/turtles/loggerhead.htm
4. WWF - Loggerhead Turtles
5. WWF Turkey
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hziM2z37jE