A cluster of dead Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) Sea Turtles were found floating off the southern coast of Mexico, entangled in a net. The Sea Turtles were discovered on Tuesday (28^th of August 2018) by Fishermen in the Southern state of Oaxaca, off the coast of La Barra de Colotepec, Mexico’s federal agency for environmental protection said. The net the Sea Turtles were entangled in, is an illegal net prohibited by the Mexican government. These Sea Turtles were found already in a decomposing state by the fisherman and marine authorities. The prosecutorial office for crimes against the environment (PROFEPA) of the government and other agencies are busy investigating this great environmental tragedy. The Olive Ridley Sea Turtles are considered as endangered by Mexican officials and also by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The great drop in their numbers as with other endangered species is chiefly due to human activities. The dead Sea Turtles have since been removed from the ocean and buried, to avoid any further contamination.

The Olive Ridleys, named for their pale green skin and shell, descend on a number of Mexican states along the Pacific coast between May and September to lay eggs. The following are some facts about the Olive Riddley Sea Turtles;

• It is the second smallest after the Kemp’s Riddley, weighing between 75-100 pounds (34-45kg).
• They can reach 2 to 2.5 feet in length, approximately 62-70cm in length.
• They have a powerful jaw which allows them to eat many things in the sea like crustaceans (such as shrimp & crabs), mollusks, tunicates, Algae, fish, crabs, and shrimp.
• The Olive Ridley Sea Turtle lives in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Pacific, Indian (which covers also the South African coast) and the Atlantic Oceans.
• They nest in a synchronized nesting called the Arribadas (Spanish word for arrival), produce an average clutch of about 110 eggs with an incubation period of 52 to 58 days. Nest 2 times a season.

Conservation Status;

• In the United States of America the Olive Ridleys are listed as “threatened” under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, but they are slowly moving towards being endangered or in danger of extinction within the foreseeable future, according to the Sea Turtle Conservancy. They are listed as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN).

Threats;

• Harvesting of adults and eggs, plastic pollution, incidental entanglement in commercial fishing nets and loss of nesting habitats due to Human beings coastal exploitation are the main threats to this species. In a nutshell, some human activities that are not environmentally conscious affect these species and not only them but impact as well on the whole marine ecosystem.

 

What we need to do;

• Practice responsible behaviour.
• End plastic pollution.
• Educate each other about sustainable behaviour.
• Support conservation projects.
• Report all irresponsible human activities to marine authorities.
• Report all washed up sick, injured or dead marine life.

This great loss comes a couple of days after 113 endangered turtles were also found dead in the Southern State of Chiapas, Mexico. The Sea Turtles were found over period between 24 July to 13 August 2018 in different parts of the Puerto Arista sanctuary. They possibly died due to asphyxiation, fish hooks or harmful Algae as per communication between PROFEPA and Reuters.

It is estimated that about 640 000 metric tonnes of fishing nets are lost and/or discarded into our oceans each year, entangling and killing large numbers of marine life. Amongst the affected, a countless number of marine mammals like the endangered Whales, Seals and Turtles. The coastal shallow reefs are also heavily affected as they suffer degradation from the abandoned gear, of which can take more than 500 years to decompose. The facts of this matter were covered by the World Animal Protection.

“Preventing plastic pollution and encouraging solutions for a healthy ocean”

 

Plastic pollution is a major concern for all nations at the moment. This is simply because it threatens all marine life and threatens the health of all life including humans.  Each year it is estimated we produce about 300 million tons of plastic, an estimated 13 million leaks into the ocean, and by 2050 it is projected that plastics will out-weigh fish in the ocean.

Oceans store 50 x more Carbon Dioxide than the atmosphere

Oceans provide more than 50% of the Oxygen we breathe and stores 50 times more Carbon Dioxide than the atmosphere. It regulates the whole world’s climates, by transporting heat from the equator to the poles and vice-versa transferring the cold from the poles to the equator thereby creating a balanced regulated climatic system in the world. This same climatic system ensures a sustainable weather system for different regions and is responsible for our weather seasons across the globe. It is estimated that about 76% of the U.S. trade involves Marine transportation. This is also true for most of the bulk transportation channels of the whole world from continent to continent. The ocean provides about 3 million jobs in the U.S alone and a hefty over 200 billion dollars contribution to their GDP per year.

More than 50% of all life on earth is found in the ocean

In Namibia the ocean with its provisions namely fishing is the second GDP contributor to their economy, making it one of their most important assets. At least one in four people in the world is dependent on sea food as their number one source of protein. The ocean resources basically contribute more than 5% of global GDP and more than 50% of all life in the world is found in the ocean. It contains about 99% of living space in the world and less than 10% of that space has been covered by human explorations. This shows how huge the ocean is and how much respect we should give it or honour it with.

Less than 1% of the ocean is protected or managed

Given the amount of surface cover the ocean envelopes, it is hard to believe that only about 1% of it is protected or managed. The ocean has been identified as a key frontier to economic growth under Operation Phakisa in South Africa. Operation Phakisa aims to utilise coastal lines for growth and development. Besides fisheries it has been noted in South Africa that a greater part of the Tourism industry happens in the coastal regions and in 2016 alone it contributed 9.3% to the GDP. This inspires the vision that if sustainable coastal strategies are set and implemented, more can be harvested from the ocean. It is a target of growth and development during these trying economic times. To achieve sustainable development of any ocean related growth and development, it cannot be ignored that exploitation of the coastal resources can spiral out of hand if no proper environmental management systems are not set in. The protection of coastal places has to be one and foremost top priority. Controlling fishing so that the ocean retains its biodiversity to balance its ecosystem, controlling off-shore Gas or Oil mining if it is to be introduced in the development plans, and managing port side projects so that no Ramsar sites are affected nor coastal lines eroded or intoxicated with no mitigation plans in place.

 

Intoxication of the ocean has been a huge cause of concern for marine life. Ranging from oil spills, to leaking radio-active elements, and to currently the biggest marine life killer being Plastic pollution. Marine birds die from ingesting fish with plastic elements in them and from picking up plastic pieces in the ocean to feed their young assuming they are fish eggs which mostly resemble the transparent nature of plastics. Turtles die from ingesting sizeable transparent plastic bags confusing them with Jelly fish. The list is endless of the chain of impact in which plastic is causing to all life forms in the world.

Not only marine life is affected, we are too.

Humans are not going to get off lightly as plastic pollution grows. A large part of our world population depends on the same sea food that is exposed to a lot of plastic particles that we humans are also now ingesting indirectly.

On this day, the 8^th of June, the Ocean is acknowledged as a great asset to the whole world. Plastic pollution has raised its head prominently for many environmental awareness days this year. It is a top priority topic for this year’s Ocean day and encouraging solutions for a healthy ocean. The whole world needs to unite and support these solutions to change the gloomy future that is going to follow if nothing is done to curb this plastic problem.

What everyone needs to do is to;

• Stop using plastic straws,
• Stop using single-use plastic products,
• Use reusable water bottle for water and stop buying single use plastic water bottles,
• Cook more often and fore-go Take-Aways which come with a lot of containers some of which are not bio-degradable or eco-friendly. Refuse plastic cutlery for days you do order something,
• Separate and Recycle plastics by sending them to the relevant recycle companies,
• Take your own shopping bags to the shops and stop buying plastic bags most of which have low percentage of recycled plastics incorporated,
• Buy in bulk, so that you have bigger containers with lasting contents than frequently buying small containers like as with the case of single-serve yoghurt tubs.

Support all new eco-friendly products like Bamboo Straws, bio-degradable paper straws or edible straws instead of the plastic straws. Use Bio-degradable grocery paper bags instead of plastic paper bags. Voice out your eco-friendly ideas, support all businesses that are eco-active or eco-conscious and shun away from single use plastic businesses. A thumbs up to all the entities protecting, rehabilitating, doing sustainable research and promoting good practices on marine life and marine management.

Useful links;

https://tenikwa.com/world-environment-day/

https://tenikwa.com/world-turtle-day/

http://www.worldoceansday.org/

https://www.aquarium.co.za/

World Environment Day, held each year on 5^th June, gives us yet another opportunity to sit up and re-evaluate our living style. This year’s theme is “Beat Plastic Pollution”.

It is estimated that about 13 million tons of plastics leak into the ocean each year, and about 100 000 marine animals killed by plastic each year. These estimates from trusted environmental organisations reveal how plastic pollution has grown to be the world’s biggest environmental challenge. The amount of solutions or the implementation of plastic solutions is not catching up to the amount of plastics being dumped onto the environment. Sustainable behaviour needs to be practiced by everyone from this day onwards to reduce and solve the plastic problem.

India takes the initiative

India being on the top list of the biggest consumers and polluters in the globe, have taken the initiative to change their ways and lead in practicing sustainable behaviour by hosting this year’s World Environment Day, focussed on the world’s mounting plastic problem. India is taking leadership, given it has one of the highest recycling rates in the world. It can be instrumental in battling plastic pollution across the world. The World Environment Day is a United Nations Environment led global event, one of the most celebrated environmental days each year, recognised and celebrated by many communities.

5.5ft high wave of plastic

India caught the World’s eye when their Versova Beach in Mumbai had about 5.5 feet high plastic garbage on the whole coast, no one could walk along the coast let alone to swim in that ocean.  Two years down the line they managed to turn it all around from disgusting (by their own admission) to currently one of the most beautiful coastal stretches of the world. The whole clean-up was done by community volunteers led by a high spirited Lawyer and Environmentalist Afroz Shah, who after moving into an apartment located by the coastline could not believe what he came across on his backyard ocean view side. He rallied up people to amazingly turn around the trash-ridden coast to pristine. The Versova’s case study now challenges and inspires the whole world to rise up and start leaving responsibly. It is totally not impossible to turn around even the most heavily polluted places to pristine as it has been done and achieved by our fellow people in India.

The Transformed coast of Mumbai, from trash ridden to prestine.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Presently there is a big island of floating plastic garbage in the Pacific Ocean known to date as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This floating mass of plastic is said to be as big as Alaska and it is just moving along with the pacific current.

The last straw

Tenikwa Wildlife Rehabilitation and Awareness Centre is already practicising responsible business processes. We took one step closer to reducing single use plastics, having recently stopped providing Plastic Straws at our Chesters Café. This is such an easy initiative to institute and one of the eco-friendly steps to beating plastic pollution as it is estimated that over 500 million straws are used daily in certain world class fast economies like the United States and most of which find their way into the ocean somehow.

What you can do;

• Stop using plastic straws,
• Stop using single use plastic products,
• Use reusable water bottle for water and not keep buying single use plastic water bottles,
• Cook more often and fore-go Take-Aways which come with a lot of containers some of which are not bio-degradable or eco-friendly. Refuse plastic cutlery for days you do order something,
• Separate and Recycle plastics by sending them to the relevant recycle companies,
• Take your own shopping bags to the shops and stop buying plastic bags most of which have low percentage of recycled plastics incorporated,
• Buy in bulk, so that you have bigger containers with lasting contents than frequently buying small containers like as with the case of yoghurts,

 

It all begins with us, to have a pristine environment that will sustain its own natural systems and create a better future we all wish to have. We need to simply Reduce, Recycle and Reuse.

 

Useful Links;

https://unenvironment.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=81fa4175b1cfc693bd89ea261&id=0be0192805&e=3b0d2acdda

https://www.thebambooproject.co.za/

https://www.ecowatch.com/beach-clean-up-mumbai-2421608193.html

https://abcnews.go.com/International/great-pacific-garbage-patch-massive-floating-island-plastic/story?id=53962147

http://worldenvironmentday.global/

https://tenikwa.com/conservation-awareness/ 

https://tenikwa.com/environmental-calendar/