What can be done to restore Pacific turtle populations?: The Bellagio blueprint for action on Pacific sea turtles

The Bellagio Blueprint for Action on Pacific Sea Turtles is an outcome of the Bellagio Conference on the Conversation and Sustainable Management of Sea Turtles organized jointly by the WorldFish Center and U.S. NOAA Fisheries. During 17-21 November, 2003, a multi-disciplinary group of 25 experts met in Bellagio, Italy to draft an Action Plan on Pacific Sea Turtles. The group recognized the serious state of sea turtle populations in the Pacific and the escalating nature of human threats to the turtles. However, after examining cases of successful sea turtle conservation programs from around the world and reviewing a broad suite of promising policy and management actions in the Pacific, they concluded that actions to save the threatened and endangered species were possible. The Blueprint urges protecting all nesting beaches, reducing turtle take in at-sea and coastal fisheries, stimulating Pan-Pacific policy actions and encouraging the sustainability of the traditional use of sea turtles. In addition to this description of the Blueprint, the experts are developing a full policy brief and other products for wide dissemination.Turtle fisheries, Nature conservation, Resource management, Nesting, Staff Contrib. No. 1726, Pacific Ocean,

Sea Turtle Observations at Explosive Removals of Energy Structures

Observers were placed at offshore sites to monitor and protect sea turtles during explosive removals of oil and gas structures in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana and Texas. Data collected during more than 6,500 hours of monitoring at 106 structure removals in 1992 provided information on sea turtle distribution. Eighteen individuals were observed including 10 loggerheads, 2 leatherbacks, 1 hawksbill, and 5 unidentified sea turtles. The observation rate (individuals per monitoring hour) of sea turtles was about 30 times higher during aerial surveys than during day or night suiface surveys

Hearing in the Juvenile Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas): A Comparison of Underwater and Aerial Hearing Using Auditory Evoked Potentials

Sea turtles spend much of their life in aquatic environments, but critical portions of their life cycle, such as nesting and hatching, occur in terrestrial environments, suggesting that it may be important for them to detect sounds in both air and water. In this study we compared underwater and aerial hearing sensitivities in five juvenile green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) by measuring auditory evoked potential responses to tone pip stimuli. Green sea turtles detected acoustic stimuli in both media, responding to underwater stimuli between 50 and 1600 Hz and aerial stimuli between 50 and 800 Hz, with maximum sensitivity between 200 and 400 Hz underwater and 300 and 400 Hz in air. When underwater and aerial hearing sensitivities were compared in terms of pressure, green sea turtle aerial sound pressure thresholds were lower than underwater thresholds, however they detected a wider range of frequencies underwater. When thresholds were compared in terms of sound intensity, green sea turtle sound intensity level thresholds were 2–39 dB lower underwater particularly at frequencies below 400 Hz. Acoustic stimuli may provide important environmental cues for sea turtles. Further research is needed to determine how sea turtles behaviorally and physiologically respond to sounds in their environment

The Origin, Evolution, and Demise of the U.S. Sea Turtle Fisheries

Fishing was America's first industry, and turtling played an important role in the nation's developing fisheries. However, before the European settlers arrived in the New World, Native Americans had already developed spiritual and gastronomic relationships with sea turtles. There are indications that ancient Florida tribes had eaten sea turtles and then placed the skulls in burial mounds (Johnson, 1952)

Evolutionary ecology of sea turtles

DNA can teach us many things about natural populations, for example, where they come from and how many there are, which is important for studying endangered species like sea turtles. Thanks to our DNA research on sea turtles, we learned that there is an increasing number of sea turtles in the sea near Bonaire that come from nesting colonies where nesting numbers are increasing thanks to succesful conservation. We also saw that sea currents near Madagascar had an important influence on the migration of young sea turtles: they move with the currents. We could also look in the past using DNA, at the evolution of sea turtles. Apparently, the ice ages had a major influence on sea turtles. When the earth started to cool down around 115 thousand years ago, sea turtles in the Atlantic Ocean became separated from their neighbors in the Southwest Indian Ocean. Because of this, their DNA slowly became more different over time during the previous ice age. The ice ages also influenced sea levels. The formation of land ice caused sea levels to drop. Sea levels were almost 120 meters lower than the present level during the peak of the previous ice age. Many shallow seas became exposed, wich resulted in less areas where sea turtles could feed. Less food apparently resulted in fewer sea turtles, because in their DNA we see, using mathematical models, a reduction in diversity during the last ice age

Sea Turtles’ Home Coming: Chinese Returnees’ Returning Experiences

Since China’s open door policy enacted in 1978, massive numbers of Chinese people have gone overseas for education or professional development. Such “brain drain” triggered China’s state level policy reform to harness these talents back home, and consequently both numbers and return rate of these returnees have been increasing over the past decade. These returnees are usually called “sea turtle” (a homonym for “returnee” in Chinese). Sea turtles are generally viewed as an asset, and even the rise of the Chinese economy has been attributed partly to their repatriation (Zweig & Han, 2011). Previous research on this special group of people has shown their important role in facilitating international knowledge transfer in Chinese research institutions and universities, and in facilitating development and change in local entrepreneurship, cultural and economic aspects (Ding, 2014; Wen, 2013; Zweig & Yang, 2014). Accordingly, various and generous policies have been introduced to induce sea turtles to swim back to their home country (Wadhwa, Jain, Saxenian, Gereffi, & Wang, 2011). However, despite the practical importance of these sea turtles, research on their after-return experience is still limited. Thus, this two-essay dissertation aims to fill in this gap by investigating sea turtles’ experiences after coming to home country. To gain a comprehensive understanding of extant literature, I first reviewed sea turtles studies on their reentry experience. My review showed that most of the studies are largely descriptive and exploratory, and the main focus is on repatriation reasons and their practical importance. Their experiences after coming back to China are usually neglected except for some general descriptions of problems (e.g. Hao & Welch, 2012; Tung, 2007). Like other types of returnees (e.g. repatriates), sea turtles’ home coming journey is never an easy task (Black, 1992; Szkudlarek, 2010). Limited extant research showed that sea turtles’ returning experiences are characterized with negative feelings, struggles, and maladjustment (Chen, Yuan, Jiang, Yu, & Huang, 2003; Gill, 2010; Hao & Welch, 2012). Zweig and Han (2011) even documented that approximately one third of sea turtles intended to re-expatriate due to maladjustment. Because examining sea turtles’ subjective experiences is a relatively nascent stream of research, in addition to reviewing this literature, in Essay 1, I also adopted a qualitative approach to answer four basic research questions about sea turtles returning experiences: 1) How do sea turtles feel about their reentry experiences? 2) What are the influential factors? 3) How do sea turtles deal with these feelings? 4) What role does Chinese culture play during sea turtles’ reentry? Building upon in-depth interview data from twenty sea turtles, I identified the paradoxical nature of their experiences. Integrating the interview data and the paradox literature, I established a grounded theory that shows that sea turtles’ home coming journey is inherently replete with paradoxical tensions such as paradox of identity, paradox of affection, and paradox of behavior. These tensions are initially latent until rendered salient by triggers such as confusions about who they are, dramatic changes in external environment, and mixed messages on the value of their overseas experiences. Sea turtles then seek different ways to manage such paradoxes. Some choose to avoid paradoxical tensions by temporarily separating them or simply ignoring them. Others choose to confront paradoxes by accepting their persistence and unsolvable nature. In doing so, sea turtles may have the chance to transcend paradoxes and thrive in their home country. Essay 2 extends and empirically tests one part of the grounded theory developed in Essay 1. Drawing on both paradox and identity literature, this Essay focused on the paradox of identity, and explains why sea turtles’ re-entry journey is so distressful and how certain coping responses allow sea turtles to thrive in their home country. I tested the hypothesized predictions with a sample of 91 sea turtles who returned to China from a broad range of overseas countries. I proposed and found that the effects of paradox are paradoxical: the tensions resulting from sea turtles’ paradox of identity are not necessarily detrimental. On the contrary, if coped with effectively, paradox may lead to a virtuous cycle and facilitate sea turtles’ thriving at work. Particularly, I found that those who are equipped with the ability to think paradoxically and have a low level of preference for consistency are more likely to react strategically to paradoxical tensions, resulting in less strain and even thriving at work. By integrating a paradox lens with the sea turtle literature, this dissertation contributes to our understanding of sea turtles’ reentry experiences in two major ways: 1) Establishing a theoretical model that explains how different types of paradoxical tensions emerge during sea turtles’ reentry and the corresponding coping strategies. 2) Offering empirical support showing how sea turtles can benefit from paradox by acting strategically

Observations of Sea Turtles and Other Marine Life at the Explosive Removal of Offshore Oil and Gas Structures in the Gulf of Mexico

Observers monitored the explosive removal of oil and gas structures in the Gulf of Mexico to protect sea turtles and marine mammals from adverse impacts. More than 7,000 monitoring hours at 131 structure removals were conducted during 1993. Sixteen individual sea turtles were observed including 6 loggerheads, 1 Kemp\u27s ridley, 1 green, and 8 unidentified sea turtles. Aerial surveys were approximately ten times more effective in observing sea turtles than day or night surface surveys

Migration and habitat use of sea turtles in the Bahamas

Objectives: Evaluate movement and distribution patterns of sea turtles in our series of study sites in The Bahamas. This objective includes the questions of where do the turtles come from, how long are they resident in these sites, and where do they go when they leave. Collect data that will allow us to develop techniques to compare habitat quality and to serve as a foundation for studies of the role of green turtles in seagrass ecosystems. Evaluate models for estimating growth rates and carrying capacities for sea turtles based on our data from a long-term study of immature green turtles in the southern Bahamas. (Document has 7 pages.

Sea turtles

All five species of the turtles occurring in the Indian seas are placed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection] Act 1972 thereby according them complete protection from exploitation. The programme at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute on the conservation and management of endangered sea turtles generated a good amount of awareness on sea turtles at various levels and these efforts would go a long way in strengthening the national effort in the conservation and management of sea turtles