Take 30 Seconds to Save Sea Turtles
October 16, 2008 by wilcoxclynn
I like to pride myself on knowing a lot about the marine realm, graduating with a degree in Marine Science and all. But this, I didn't know: It is legal to kill sea turtles in the Bahamas.
All seven species of sea turtle are endangered ("threatened" or worse on the IUCN red list), with three critically endangered. Five of the seven species, including the critically endangered leatherback and hawksbill turtles, are found within the waters of the Bahamas, where they are legally fished.
Oceana, the international ocean conservation group, are making a push to try and prohibit the fishing of turtles in the Bahamas. Please take 30 seconds to follow this link to Oceana’s page and they have a form where you can add your name to send a letter to Michael Braynen, the Director of the Bahamas’ Department of Marine Resources, and tell him that it’s time for the Bahamas to join the rest of the world and protect sea turtles.
It'll only take 30 seconds to make a difference!
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Comments
The seven species of sea turtles
June 1, 2009 by Anonymous, 25 weeks 6 days ago
Comment: 36968
I think that we should leave the sea turtles alone ,cause they are very beautiful . I will talk to you later .
Does it hurt?
October 17, 2008 by wilcoxclynn, 1 year 6 weeks ago
Comment: 32442
First off, it's not just an internet poll - they send a letter in your honor. Does sending letters to government officials ever help? Who knows - but does it hurt? If you receive 5,000 letters saying something, would you react to it? Like I said, I don't normally do activist-y things like this because I, generally, agree that it does little. But really, can it hurt to spend 30 seconds to try?
I don't think anyone thinks they save the world with a click of a mouse. But if you click a button to donate to world hunger or test your vocabulary to donate free rice, what are you losing, exactly? Do you feel better by just sitting there instead?
PS I'm not just a science blogger - I'm a scientist, and I hope to use my work to do more than a mouse click.
Bored?
Have these ever worked?
October 17, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 6 weeks ago
Comment: 32438
Is there evidence anywhere that any shallow internet poll has ever actually determined any government policy? I don't mean to be rude, just blunt: what possible reason would a foreign government have to respect your wishes?
It's mostly the laz-ee-boy attitude that I think gets to me, the idea that it might be possible to stop resource waste or whatever by sitting comfy in an office chair and oops, look what I just did! saved the world with a mouse click again!
Is that even feasible? In the real world, I mean. Could educated people believe such tales?
I don't really know, but what seems more reasonable is to examine the motivations behind the Bahamanian exploitation of the sea turtles. If it is money, then offer to pay them more to let the turtles be. If it is a technology thing where their nets cannot differentiate, then offer them free technology which can. If it is a deep-seated cultural symbiosis with the sea turtle, offer a troupe of anthropologists to try and bend their traditions a little. There are oodles of ways to make a difference, but c'mon now, a mouse click will change a politician? That defies credibility.
Mind you, how can I expect to sit here in my comfy office chair and change the activist policy of a science blogger with a single painless comment?