Pacific Leatherback Turtles' Alarming Decline Continue's.

http://www.livescience.com/27519-pacific-leatherback-turtle-decline.html

Becky Oskin
Live Science
27 Febraury 2013

Summary
The Pacific Leatherback Turtle is the largest of all living turtles and can be found in any ocean.  Their name was derived from their unique “leathery” shell which can grow to 2 meters in length and weigh up to 540 kilograms.
This species of turtle was added to the endangered species list in in 1970 in the United States. With its population declining, studies shows that the Leatherback Turtle will not be able to avoid extinction in 20 years if conservation efforts are not expanded.

Reasons for Declining Population: There are two major hot spots that impact the Leatherback Turtle’s population: Their nesting (Indonesia) and feeding grounds (Americas).  75% of the species make the Bird’s Head Peninsula in Papua Barat (Indonesia) their nesting site. The major reason for the population decline is that the villagers and fishermen of Indonesia were collecting thousands of turtles from the beach (human poaching). Another reason for their decline is that they are “victims of bycatch,” which means that they are susceptible to being accidently caught in fishing or whaling nets while migrating from Indonesia to the Americas where their feeding grounds are located. Their population was also impacted by environmental changes resulting in declining food sources, particularly jellyfish.

Conservation Efforts: A law passed in 1993 prohibits the practice of that act. Although it is against the law for humans to collect the turtle eggs, it does not stop other animals such as dogs and pigs digging up the turtle eggs that are laid on the beach.  In February 2012, in the United States efforts for conservation, protected 108800 square kilometers including the Pacific Ocean off California, Oregon and Washington as critical habitat for the Leatherback Turtle to avoid extinction. The environmental change proves a challenge for the conservation of the Leatherback Turtle; however actions can be taken to ensure safety in their nesting and feeding locations, such as creating a wild life sanctuary for these turtles

Connection
The connection between the unit on animals and the article on the Pacific Leatherback Turtle is the effects of human activity, such as harvesting eggs and fishing which resulted in the near extinction of the species. The Leatherback Turtle’s ecological role as a food source to certain predators and its own food source such as jellyfish is impacted by environmental changes and human activities.