Sea turtles still endangered, threatened

Published: September 10, 2007, 6:21 am

A U.S. study focusing on global sea turtle populations has found that half a dozen species are still endangered or threatened despite promising increases in the number of adult females and nests, U.S. wildlife officials said Thursday. Officials with two U.S. federal agencies recently completed the five-year study after analyzing population trends, habitat conditions and conservation measures in the Caribbean and around the world.The leatherback, hawksbill and Kemp's ridley turtle species are listed as endangered. The breeding populations of Olive ridley and green sea turtles are endangered along Mexico's Pacific Coast, and threatened elsewhere, the study found.Coastal development, beachfront lighting, pollution and hunting are contributing to the demise of the sea turtles, which come ashore periodically to lay their eggs in "nests" dug in the sand, according to the study."Threatened" means a species could become "endangered," which means the species might face extinction.But some sea

[ Full article ]

Blog link

Comments