Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Study: sea turtle assessments are wrong

|
|
 
  
Published: Aug. 1, 2006 at 5:42 PM
Advertisement

LA JOLLA, Calif., Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Conservationists in La Jolla, Calif., say assessments of endangered Caribbean sea turtles are too optimistic.

Loren McClenachan, Jeremy Jackson and Marah Newman of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography agree conservation efforts have helped increase green and hawksbill turtle populations that nest on protected beaches.

However, the scientists argue dwindling turtle populations on many historically important nesting beaches are overlooked by conservation assessments that instead focus on the few large nesting sites that remain.

The researchers estimate today's population of 300,000 turtles once was as large as 6.5 million adult turtles in the Cayman Islands during the 17th Century, with close to 91 million green turtles living acros the Caribbean during this same time period. For Hawksbill turtles, the researchers estimate the population has dwindled from 11 million to fewer than 30,000.

The Scripps study -- "Conservation implications of historic sea turtle nesting beach loss" -- appears in the August issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

Topics: Jeremy Jackson
© 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Notable deaths of 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee AmfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala
Indianapolis 500 Presidential Medal of Freedom Memorial Day around the nation
Additional Science News Stories
1 of 32
Marilyn Monroe Cupcake Portrait at Madame Tussauds in New York
View Caption
A one-of-a-kind 8 x 4 foot portrait of Marilyn Monroe made from 2,100 bite sized stuffed cupcakes stands in the lobby next to her wax figure on the eve of Marilyn Monroe's 86th birthday at Madame Tussauds in New York City on May 31, 2012. UPI/John Angelillo
fark
Since pressuring banks to make loans to insolvent minorities worked out so well, the feds are now...
Drew's getting shiatfaced, so here are some women in bikinis
Blamer-in-chief can't resist taking a shot at GWB, at GWB's official portrait unveiling. Politics?...
Is there a popular strip club you've never been to?
Tired of drones following you everywhere, getting woken up by late night calls from the NSA, and...
Slideshow of swimsuit pics from Memorial Day on the Jersey shore. You know you want to look