__"OPERATION LEATHERBACK" ___________________________________________________________________________________


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In 2009 SOS-SEATURTLES and SOLO (Save Our Leatherbacks Operation) will start joint protection measures in WEST-PAPUA Indonesia in favour of Leatherback Sea Turtles, these extremely endangered marine animals.
 

Leatherback Sea Turtles
The sea living Leatherback Sea Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is undoubtedly the giant of all turtles: With a length of up to 2.5 meters and weighing up to 900 kg it is bigger than all other sea turtles as well as its terrestrial relatives such as the giant tortoise from the Galapagos or Seychelles. The leatherback is the only sea turtle that does not have a hard shell or scales, instead its carapace is covered with a leathery skin, from which it gets its name. Leatherback turtles are also great divers, often holding their breath for hours and going as deep as 1200m to catch the jellyfish which they feed on.


                      
              Leatherback Turtle laying eggs on the beach.                                                                                    Leatherback Turtle on the way back to the ocean.

Threatened with extinction
Unlike most other species of sea turtle, leatherbacks are not killed for their meat or shell but their numbers are still drastically declining – populations have declined by two thirds in the last 30 years. There are 2 main reasons for this decline:

             - Raiding of nests  by poachers who can make a lot of money by selling the eggs as aphrodisiacs on the Asian black market.
             -Accidental bycatch by fisheries which use drag nets, drift nets and longlines

Leatherbacks are the only sea turtles that feed almost exclusively on jellyfish, unfortunately, this results in big problems for these huge reptiles. Our seas are becoming increasingly polluted and alarming quantities of plastic drift in them.  Plastic bags can look very much like jellyfish as they drift and are often eaten by turtles who mistake them for food. The result is blockages in their digestive tracts, starvation and ultimately death. Studies show that about fifty percent of all leatherbacks found dead, have plastic litter in their digestive tract. Other problems include the degradation and loss of nesting beaches, increasing levels of unknown diseases and a rise in sea level which causes some nests to be flooded at high tide.
The more animals that reach the water safely, for the more will return to reproduce in the future. There are many threats to female turtles during nesting, and we have to do something about it. A piece of driftwood or litter can block an exhausted sea turtle’s way back to the sea; it wouldn’t survive the heat of the day. Sea turtles have braved natural threats for over a hundred million of years – but they are powerless against the manmade threats!
The decrease in leatherback numbers is also upsetting the balance of the ocean.  As we said before, leatherbacks mostly feed on jellyfish and an adult can eat about 100 kg of jellyfish per day. It’s easy to see that a decrease in the number of leatherbacks will lead to a rise in the numbers of jellyfish

 

                                    
                                            In die Leinen eines "Longliner" Fischerbootes verhedderte Lederschildkröte. Das Tier wurde so am Strand
                                                  gefunden und konnte gerettet  werden.  Photo: D.Connelly/L.Clark.

   Watch the Video-Clip of  Larry Mc Kenna;  The Leatherback need  YOUR  help !!     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufD8jJgK2p4
 

So what can we do to help? 
Well whilst the problems of overfishing and ocean pollution ultimately need a political solution there are some things that we can do to help. As consumers, we have a lot of power and if enough of us choose to only eat fish which is sustainably caught, using methods which do not harm turtles then this will force a change. Similarly, choices that we make as individuals about litter can effect great change when the same choice is made by enough people. We can choose not to drop litter, to attend beach cleans or even just to collect rubbish as we walk along the beach.
Besides this SOS SEATURTLES and SOLO will focus on 3 main activities:

      -          Protection of nests to prevent raiding by poachers and predators
-          Relocation of nests to safer places and surveillance during incubation and hatching
-          Active support of females during nesting and on their way back to the water
 

                          
      Leatherback Turtles laying 30 to 50 eggs in  size of a tennisball.                                                             Leatherback hatchling runnig to the ocean

  „Operation Leatherback“ – a Conservation Project in West-Papua, Indonesia
After years of fighting tirelessly against the sea turtle slaughter on the island of Bali, SOS SEA TURTLES, together with the Indonesian animal conservation organisation PROFAUNA www.profauna.or.id have almost won their battle! The sea turtle trade diminished so much, that even the police and PROFAUNA activists can’t detect any suspicious activity anymore. We can therefore declare a great success, remembering that just 20 years ago over 20,000 sea turtles were slaughtered there annually! http://www.sos-seaturtles.ch/newsseite_deutsch.htm Beside the ongoing campaign to stop the illegal sea turtle hunt in WAKATOBI National Park in East Sulawesi, we will attend to a new project in 2009: we are going to help the leatherback sea turtles to survive!
With ”SAVE OUR LEATHERBACKS“ www.saveourleatherbacks.org , we will have a partner, who is  already successfully performing preliminary work in IRIAN JAYA. This organization was founded by Larry Mc-Kenna, who is an awarded, retired US-airforce colonel. During the last nesting season they got the local population of the nearby village involved with the protection work and were able to save hundreds of sea turtle nests.

The Project.
        -   To develop efficient means to protect sea turtle nests from being raided or destroyed by humans or animals until the baby-turtles hatch
        -   To relocate eggs if they are in danger of overheating or flooding
        -   To educate and instruct the villagers in becoming rangers, who will patrol the coastline by boat in order to protect the nesting beaches from poachers and natural
            predators
       -   To improve the living conditions in the village, which includes the channelling of spring water; supporting school children by providing educational books and   
            helping adults to create crafts.  We will also be pushing for the local people of this area to be supported politically.

                 
              Turtle nests plundered by pigs.                                                                                             Due to global warming babies sying in theire eggs

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                18km of beach has to be protected.                                                                                                Many nest have to be delocated due to the  higher sea leves

                        
              Large parts of the beach are allready protected against pics and dogs with electrical  fenses       Map of West-Papua. The Turtlebeach is located between Sorong and Manokavari.

            
 Financing
These protection activities - like all projects from SOS-SEATURTLES and SOLO - are being supported by donations of the dive and travel industry as well as from individuals. All donations are being used to the full extent for the sea turtle protection project; there are no administration expenses at all!     Donation page clique here !!!

    
                                                                                                                 ..........The Leatherbacks need our help!!!!                  
_  Photos by Larry Mc Kenna  ______________________________________________

    

    
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