AROUND 300 OLIVE ridley sea turtles were discovered dead off the coast of Mexico on Tuesday, 28th August.
Local fishermen found the majestic sea animals tangled up in a line along an illegal fishing net in the ocean, off the coast of Puerto Escondido. Their shells were cracking after more than a week drying in the sun.
Their mass death together was most likely excruciatingly slow as they struggled to escape.
Jose Antonio Ramirez Garcia, a Coordinator for Civil Protection, said:
The fishermen tell us that the net is not from around here. It could have been abandoned by a tuna fishing ship without reporting it lost, causing the death of these animals which are in danger of extinction.
The 300 sea turtles were buried on land so as not to upset the other intelligent wildlife.
People on Twitter were heartbroken by the death of the turtles
But many were not surprised.
Conservatives are also attempting to convince trawling boats to use nets that have Turtle Excluder Devices in their nets, which are flaps that can allow turtles to escape entanglement.
This month alone, authorities said they were investigating the deaths of 102 other olive ridley (or Pacific ridley) sea turtles, along with 113 other sea turtles, 6 Hawkswbill and 5 green turtle species.
Olive Ridley sea turtles are the smallest and most abundant in the world.
Unfortunately, since 1986 they have been considered endangered due to a steep decline in numbers. They are in danger of extinction because the beaches were the females nest have been significantly reduced in number.
The turtles are unique for their synchronized nesting in mass numbers, something called ‘arribadas’ which is spanish for ‘arrival’, which happens between May and September.
Female turtles return to the same beaches from where they themselves were hatched where they lay up to 100 eggs each.
Whoa! That’s a lot.
But of every 1,000 turtles hatched, only one will survive it to adulthood.
Conservationists have argued that it is imperative that the few nesting beaches left in the world are protected.
If you’d like to donate to help save turtles, you can here.
