Deeper Into Conservation

 

Conservation : the act of keeping free from depletion, decay or injury. Wise management or maintaining.

 

 

SAVE OUR LEATHERBACKS

 

Beyond the Ordinary Special expeditions - Leatherback Turtles & Raja Ampat 2006

 

“Gentle Giants of the Seas”

Are Spiraling to Extinction

A Critical Report by Larry McKenna

 

Most of us in the adventure film industry keep an ever-shrinking list of things we want to film and places we long to explore. Along with swimming with whale sharks, it is the desire to film the Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys Coriacea), the largest of its kind on earth, that sits high on my list. At maturity this huge ocean roaming pelagic is over six feet long, four feet wide (ten feet if you include the front flippers) and weighs in at over one thousand pounds. Imagine coming eye to eye and hand to flipper with a female leatherback as she lays her eggs on a dark, moonless night.

 

Living for up to 100 years the leatherback is the longest surviving reptile on earth, where the dinosaurs perished, the Leatherbacks adapted and survived. This turtle is a Pelagic, ocean roaming animal that has been monitored to dive as deep as 1000 metres, its soft leather-like caprice allowing for the pressure changes necessary for this air breather to dive that deep to feed.

 

My quest to find the Leatherback began with finding a boat that could take me to one of the most remote frontiers left on our planet; the “Bird Head” of Irian Jaya. The boat saga is fodder for another story so lets just say that after leaving Sorong and enduring six hours of rough seas, we finally arrived at the “Rock House.” Heading to turtle beach is like going into a world of almost total isolation, which begins where the cell phone connections end (five miles out of port)! It is here that the largest Leatherback turtle-nesting beach exists. In a random annual return from Pacific wide foraging between the months of May to October, females aged from 20 to 100 come to nest on the sandy beach that was also their birthplace.

 

It was here that I finally lived out this dream and now have my images, film and memories of this unforgettable experience. But more important than my memories and personal fulfillment is the need to relay what is really happening to the Leatherback Turtles on this 18 kilometre long stretch of the very remote Irian Jaya beach in Indonesia, as it affects the survivability of the species; now in a crucial state – one that is far more critical than scientists suggest.

 

Now I wish to tell the story…as it is because: The species may not exist in another two to three years, unless…!

 

Despite the long night we have ahead of us, our spirits remain high as we wade ashore and unload the camera gear and supplies. There is a small wood house here that is the focal point for villagers, international researches, Indonesian government staff and now, me. I am allocated a space on the bare wood floor of the radio room, which will double as a bed and a place to assemble my cameras away from the sand.

 

My task is a simple one – to go and film the turtles. The path leading to the eastern part of the beach at the Rock House has been breached in three places by huge black granite boulders from landslides. With a straight walk impossible, my Papuan guides and I began our trek as darkness settled and after three hours of slipping and falling over these rocks we arrived at a part of the beach where I was ‘sure’ of finding a turtle. And we did!

 

Emerging from the high tide, these ‘gentle giants’ haul their ponderous hulks from the sea with their front flippers. Ever so slowly they crawl up the beach as far as it extends away from the sea. The female then digs a nest with her rear flippers that convert into a shovel shape for the occasion. When the pit is about four feet deep and her flippers hang vertically into it she begins to drop 60-100 eggs. The last few eggs are not really eggs but shells filled with albumin from her reproductory tract. These ‘fakes’ are thought to provide protection for the eggs beneath them. This nesting and egg laying takes about an hour and when she is finished the female pats the sand firmly over the nest and heads back out to sea. Even on a moonless night the tire like track left behind by the turtle are clearly visible enabling researchers to count the number of nesting turtles each day. In a nesting seasons she will mate with the males beyond the surf line and return to nest up to six times, laying up to 600 eggs per season. Mating with a different male each time ensures a better distribution of the fragile gene pool to increase the survival of this species.

 

For the next eight weeks the eggs sit in their nests under the tropical sand. The sex of the new turtle is determined by the sand temperature during incubation. A sand temperature of 29 degrees establishes a 50/50 ratio of females to male turtles. At hatching time in that dark nest, the baby turtles dig their way to the light at the surface. Out of the nest the new Leatherback takes a bearing, through its internal navigation system, to imprint the location of birth and the path to the sea and then scamper down to the ocean much like drunken sailors staggering to a waterfront pub. Once in the sea they disappear for 15-20 years as they roam the oceans for thousands of kilometers as they grow and forage on their favourite food; the jellyfish.

 

Before embarking on my turtle expedition I researched many articles and journals concerning the Leatherback’s serious slide to extinction. The Leatherback population used to be in the millions during the dinosaur days and as reported by J.Spotila and L.Crowder in the June 2000 issue of Nature, “the world wide population of Leatherbacks in 1980 was about 91,000 and had fallen in 2000 to LESS than 3,000 – world wide.” With the precarious fate of the Leatherback in mind I was assured that at the Rock House, the hatchlings were given every chance for survival. Pre arrival research revealed an incentive program established by WWF, Dr Akil Yusuf (www.seaturtle.org.id) and two Papuan villages at each end of this beach to create night patrols – all night – to warn off egg poachers and kill the wild pigs if any are found.  Left alone, the poachers and the pigs could destroy the eggs almost faster than the turtles can lay them. Further, a Japanese group (Sea Turtle Association of Japan) funded Dr. Yusuf’s foundation to establish a three-kilometre experimental electric solar powered fence set low to the ground. This fence shocks the wild pigs as they attempt to locate the eggs. The hatch rate in this protected area showed an increase of up to eighty percent compared to normal statistics.

 

As the female turtles left their eggs behind at least I knew that they had a good chance of joining her in the ocean, I was comfortable in the knowledge that what could be done to save the eggs, was being done. Returning to the nesting site the next day I was shocked to find that this simply was not the case. I was stunned to see many pig pits where the egg nests had been. This did not make any sense as I was told that the beaches were guarded all night long by villagers paid to prevent this from happening. During my walk I did see villagers but they were not patrolling the beach, they were sleeping. There were no dead pigs, killed while attempting to destroy the nests and I did not see any evidence of the turtle tagging about which I was also told. Something was terribly wrong.

 

I decided to return three weeks later, unannounced. What I found was staggeringly different. The beach, the house and the camp area were deserted. Everyone that was present for my first ‘filming’ visit had left. Apart from one person from the government collecting egg hatch data, there were no guards, NO ONE. The turtles were still emerging and laying eggs while the pigs and dogs continued to raid these nests. As I trekked up and down the beach that night I came across Papuan men in tiny dug out canoes. They had a shiny new spade and a sack, which they would fill, despite it being prohibited by Indonesian Law. The ‘beach guards’ spoke with these men but as if on a signal, each walked in different directions-the poachers to poach and the guards to ‘guard.’

 

As for the electric fence, I was informed that it was broken since March after a river flood and was due for repair in August (after the height of the nesting seasons for 2005).   After the trip I called Dr. Yusuf to report the damage to his fence and he denied it was broken because of information given to him from Sorong saying it was fixed. The next day he wrote to apologize as his now current data revealed that the fence was fixed in June…but broken again in the same month by the same villagers paid to guard the nests. To make matters worse Yusuf stated that the ‘wild pigs’ were not from the jungle but from the villages. Let out by the villagers to forage on the turtle eggs at night these pigs end their plunder at daybreak when the village dogs take over.

 

I watched as a nest was excavated to examine the hatch percentage. The results are appalling. In 2003 the hatch rate was over eighty percent and the numbers of nesting turtles was high. In 2004 and now in 2005, the number of turtles that came back was less than thirty percent of those in 2003. The egg hatch rates are down to an alarming fifteen percent of the nests that were made and not destroyed. I saw and filmed ten babies emerge from a nest of about 70 eggs. The rest were destroyed in the nest. Global warming events in 2004 and 2005 were destroying the eggs before they could hatch.

 

As if pigs, dogs and negligence were not enough for the Leatherbacks to cope with, the NOAA researcher present on my first visit revealed that higher tides and warmer sands were indeed ‘cooking and rotting’ the eggs in the nest, leading to low hatch rates (Manjula, Tiwari, PhD).  The current data rate of hatch outs exacerbates the survival projections well beyond the published predictions of up to ten years before extinction. This October combined reports from Goddard Institute for Space Studies NASA and University of Colorado scientists confirmed my suspicions, revealing that more than 500,000 square miles of polar ice cap has melted to increase the sea levels since 2000, resulting in higher tides, hotter sand and storm surges. The temperatures are only set to increase. This is a new and different danger to the Leatherback survival.

 

 

The absence of immediate corrective actions here in Irian Jaya will probably doom the Western Pacific Leatherback survival hopes. On my second visit there were no villagers present at day or at night. I was told that the paid beach guards were also employed by a nearby slash timber project. Some paid beach guards went to Manokwari (over 100 miles away by sea) to work, while being paid to guard the beach. On the monthly pay days I was informed were ‘present and accounted for’ to get the money, then many disappeared until the next pay day. Add to this the apparent lack of representation in the area by WWF; I searched for them in Sorong over three months of visits prior to these expeditions and could not locate them, the closest representative to be found over 2000 miles away in Bali. After my visits I attempted to communicate with WWF in Indonesia about the situation but was met with few facts, even fewer answers and often, no reply at all. Despite the Indonesian government passing a strong law in 1994 to forbid the taking of turtle eggs, these laws remain un-enforced as poachers roam free with the police and army at least a day away – that is if they have a boat.

 

With such inaction on all fronts who is to be held accountable – the villagers, the environmental organizations, the scientists, the poachers, the Indonesian government..? More importantly, who will stand up and be proactive in the battle to save the Leatherback turtle? Current and actual data from this beach was given to me in September – in 2005 the nest count on the beach was 648. If a female comes ashore up to six times this means only 108 leatherbacks nested this year. Of some 38,880 eggs laid, 15 percent hatched out or about 6-7 hatched turtles per nest went to the sea. Here is fact, not speculation that the Leatherback is in dire need of protection and immediate actions are required before the 2006 nesting season to correct this egg destruction from the many reasons cited. The egg and hatchling survival equates to the Leatherback survival, it is as simple as that. This is the largest leatherback nesting beach in the world – if inaction is the chosen course then the extinction bell will toll for theWestern Pacific Leatherbacks.

 

 

 

If any of the seven hatchlings per nest from this beach avoid the natural dangers of the sea for the 15-20 years required to grow to reproductive size, they then face the most severe threat a sea forager faces, one against which the turtle has no defenses – long line fishing.  The adult Leatherback turtles are being slaughtered by the hundreds at sea every day as they range the oceans foraging on jelly fish. Over five million hooks hang from fishing boats on any given day, their aim is to catch tuna and swordfish – instead they are decimating turtles. Snared on the hooks the turtles drown at sea and are cut loose to drift onto beaches and decay.

 

“An estimated 4.4 million turtles, sharks, sea birds, billfish and marine mammals are injured and killed every year by long lines. Other reports have pin pointed long line fishing as causing an 87 to 99 percent decline in large pelagic fish”, reports the Sea Turtle Restoration report, October 14, 2005. Since 1980, the population of adult Leatherbacks has declined by over 95 percent. Read this number again…95 percent. As you read my story, world wide current data is not available to show the dynamics this issue in real time. The killing now, in 2005, of even 100 adult Leatherbacks is a staggering and out of proportional loss that is off the charts. The danger of total extinction is this severe. Beaches, which reported Leatherback females returning in the small thousands, now report fewer than 10 to 60, returning in 2003 (H.C. Lew, Pacific Grove, Ca. April 22-25, 2002). The culprits? Long line fishing boats.

 

Spotila et al commented in Nature #405, June, 2000, that if the Leatherback cannot sustain less than a one percent mortality rate in the Pacific, they WILL BECOME EXTINCT. Crowder has published data that the species will become extinct in 5 to 30 years. (Nature, June 22, 2000). The decline is more than just critical and greater than these eminent scientists report. Without a series of positive steps by both people and the World Body (United Nations and individual nations acting separately from the U.N), these Leatherbacks will only be seen in museum exhibits.

 

The United States placed the Leatherback turtle on the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 1973. The U.S. has also banned the Long Lines from its waters. Australia has acted very positively to save these turtles. In 2003, they set forth a five-year, $5.64 million conservation program to recover and protect the sea turtles. Included are provisions of Enforcement against boats that are found in Australian waters harvesting turtles as a “by catch” or from long lining. On May 04, 2005, the Canadian Prime Minister, Paul Martin, called on all Nations to, “end the pillage and rape of the oceans…Canada joins other nations in looking for concerted action against the systemic pillage of our ocean. We need to see concrete results in a short period of time.”

 

In an appearance at the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on Migratory Species, in 2004, The Secretary General, Kofi Annan, stated, “people tend to underestimate the vulnerability of migratory species. Yet if current trends continue, more and more of them will be driven to the edge of extinction”. The Leatherback is classified as Endangered by the International World Conservation union (IUCN) and is on the Red List of Threatened Species. Its demise and threat is also included in Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species for Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).  The call to put an immediate stop to long line fishing could not be louder or clearer. On May 31 this year, over one thousand leading international scientists signed a petition demanding the United Nations implement an immediate moratorium against Long Line fishing. The report was joined by 281 non-governmental organizations from 62 countries. As supportive as the papers, positions, pronouncements and speeches may be, the Long Liners will continue until there is effective and positive enforcement.

 

The ships of these Nations are financed all or in part by loans at extremely low interest rates from the World Bank subsidiary and associated banks; Asian Development Bank (ADB) and International Finance Corporation (IFC).  “Both banks have an in house environmental review policy (the ADB also has a fisheries policy).  The environmental side of these banks has never adequately assessed the devastating impact of long line fishing on the marine environment before proceeding with funding a project.”  (Bankrupting the Pacific; seaturtles.org).  The economics of long line catches is no longer a profitable business because of high costs of fuel and repairs and the low (about 30% of long line catches that can be sold to market) --- yet the World Bank continues to fund these at sea- killing factories.  The lending policies of the World Bank and its associate banks were reviewed and endorsed at its annual meeting on September 24 & 25, 2005.

 

Taiwan has approximately 2,110 long line vessels at sea. Japan is second in the number of ships killing at sea with almost that many vessels. This number of ships exceeds the entire world navies at sea in WW II or in any recorded in world history. These are truly killing armadas of the seas.  The long line boats I have photographed many times over years in Bali and Banda ports range the breadth of Indonesia waters and cruise from Indonesia on back to back six month voyages to Western Australia, then on to South Africa. The hooks are set and pulled in four times every day. The crews told of mass by catch slaughters of the fish and turtles at each set of the 1,000 hooks, per ship. These long line fleets appear to operate independently of any serious local government over sight. Indonesia, where the Leatherback Turtle is experiencing the most destructive and significant downward spiral in the Pacific (apart from Malaysia) has enacted a plethora of Laws and Regulations to protect this Leatherback turtle: As of this writing, there is no enforcement of these laws. The Industrial long line boats continue to steam on Indonesian waters every day when not in a port, between Ache and Jayapura.

 

Is this battle against man, machine and greed lost to save this Endangered Leatherback Turtle? My reply is no, not yet! People of all nations should put forth a strong and immediate demand to the United Nations to issue a full ban with enforcement powers delegated to STOP the long line boats. Laws and resolutions and voluntary measures have no worth without a positive and visible ability to force these fishing fleets to cease further rapes and destruction of our fragile oceans.

International and local enforcement is the only way to stop this carnage on the high seas.

 

If my words and observations do not get your attention, then here is an example that should. If we let the leatherback go extinct, their loss in the oceans may significantly alter the ecosystem of the seas. If the population of jelly fish (the Leatherback’s main source of food) is allowed to expand unchecked, the beaches and swimming areas will be over populated with stinging masses of jelly. This is happening along U.S. beaches in 2005. The unchecked population of jelly fish also can destroy the eggs, larva and baby fish, such as tuna will also perish. Then, a can of tuna will be difficult to find. The loss of any species upsets the natural balance of the sea that has developed slowly over eons. Leatherback Turtles have evolved along with swordfish, sharks, tuna and jelly fish and other marine species in a very complex symbiotic relationship that science is only now beginning to comprehend.

 

If I now have your attention, alert your friends. IF you wish to help stop this wholesale slaughter of the Leatherback Turtle, please contact me at: happycatproductions@earthlink.net. I do have a workable plan to help recovery efforts to save these “Gentle Giants of the Seas”.

 

 

 Beyond the Ordinary Special expeditions - Leatherback Turtles & Raja Ampat 2006

 

 

© 2005 – Text and photos by Larry McKenna; Happy Cat Productions. All rights are reserved. E-mail: happycatproductions@earthlink.net

NOTE: The views and opinions contained herein are the journalistic work of the Author. Where data is provided, there does exist quite a backup file as references. This article is not designed to be a scientific report; but to “tell it like it is” in hopes that those who can alter the situation WILL get my message. In that desired hope, remember...’Do NOT shoot the Messenger’.

 

            • Special Thanks to Robert Ovetz, PhD, Save the Leatherback Turtle Campaign Coordinator, for permissions to use data from his book, “Stripling the Pacific” (Sea Turtle Restoration Project) and for help with some of the technical details in which I am not versed. ISBN 0-9761654-1-4

            • Thanks also to the staffs of the Indonesian Government and private foundations (who shall remain unnamed for their protection), in providing me with current and valuable information on the situation that exists at this nesting beach in Irian Jaya.

 

* Thanks to Bonnie Harris McKenna, dba Sea Land Journals, for her edit suggestions on this complex article.

            • I do have a pro active PLAN to save the eggs and to increase the survivability of hatch outs from the nests. The actions to get the survival hatch out rate as it was pre Global Warming damages are attainable and necessary for their survival. As in most situations, the remedy requires money from Donors or Foundations beyond my personal capital.