Turtles on Oprah!

I'm a bit behind on the news here, but couldn't miss posting this. Oprah on Earth Day had Fabien Cousteau (still trying to track down the clip) who spoke about the giant plastic garbage patch in the Pacific and the effect it has on turtles and other creatures. Its great to see folks like Oprah take on this issue, its the only way people will realize how large the problem is. Here is a link to an article on the interview and ocean issues

Also, in her Earth Day issue, Oprah celebrates turtle activist Carole Allen of Sea Turtle Restoration Project.

-Brad Nahill

SEEturtles.org: Surfing with sea turtles

Groups Sue to Protect the Gulf of Mexico's Turtles

Six conservation groups (including our buddies at Caribbean Conservation Corporation, Sea Turtle Restoration Project, and Defenders of Wildlife) are suing the National Marine Fisheries Service to enforce regulations that are supposed to protect turtles from longline fishing. The groups want the fishery closed until an improved management plan is enacted, reducing the estimated 1,000 turtles caught over the past three years.

More information at CCC's website or MSNBC.

Great Turtle Race

Our friends over at Conservation International and National Geographic are out there racing turtles again. They have some great new twists this year, with rock stars (REM, Pearl Jam) and Olympic athletes (Amanda Beard, Aaron Peirsol) coaching their turtles on. I got my money on Wawa Bear!

Our own Dr. Wallace J. Nichols will be guest blogging during the race, along with a lot of other turtle experts and famous folks

Check out the race site at www.greatturtlerace.org and find daily updates on the blog at http://blog.conservation.org/

Plastic found in 1/3 of dead turtles

A new study that looked at the results of more than 400 examinations of dead leatherback turtles over the past 100+ years showed that more than one-third of them had plastic in their system. The primary culprit was not surprisingly plastic bags, which have exploded in numbers over the past couple of decades (as opposed to the dramatic decline in leatherback numbers). This makes the folks at "Save the Plastic Bag", a front group for plastic manufacturers in California, look just plain ridiculous.

The number plastic bags found in the 10 square mile radius of the guy who runs the pro-plastic site dwarfs the number of leatherback turtles worldwide, so why not start a campaign to save the poor, exiled plastic bag? Feel free to send them a note at their contact page expressing pity for the soon to be extinct bags.

For more information on how you can protect turtles from things like plastic bags, visit SEE Turtles.

More info on the study here.

Brad Nahill