Why Are Sea Turtles Important?

Healthy oceans need sea turtles. Sea turtles are a "keystone species", which means they are an important part of their environment and influence other species around them. If a keystone species is removed from a habitat, the natural order can be disrupted, which impacts other wildlife and fauna in different ways. 

Reasons  Why Sea Turtles Are Really Important

👉  Turtles help control their prey. For example, leatherbacks help manage the amount jellyfish in the ocean, hawksbills help reefs by eating sponges that compete with them for space.

👉  Turtle nesting helps beaches. The nutrients left behind by eggs and hatchlings that don’t survive provide an important source for coastal vegetation.

👉  Hatchlings are an important source of food for many animals. Birds, fish, mammals like raccoons and others rely on plentiful hatchlings to survive during nesting season.

Simple Steps To Save Sea Turtles

1. Minimize beach lighting

The moon’s natural lighting guides sea turtle hatchlings and nesting females, so walking on the beach at night with flashlights or leaving on beach house lighting can disorient turtles. Turn off your exterior lighting, keep blinds shut and place red cellophane on flashlights when walking on the beach at night.

2. Avoid beach fires during the nesting season

The light and heat from beach fires can disorient sea turtles, causing them to crawl towards the fire. It’s also important to remove recreational equipment from the beach at night, since sea turtles can get stuck in the equipment.

3. Keep beaches and waterways free of trash! 

Plastic bags are a particular threat, since sea turtles can mistake them for jellyfish — one of their main prey sources — causing them to starve or die. Additionally, since turtles can choke or become entangled in fishing gear like nets and hooks, as pictured below.

4. Don’t disturb nesting females

Sea turtles can get easily spooked when they’re starting the nesting process, sometimes causing them to “false crawl” and return to sea without nesting. 

5. Stay alert when boating

Boat and propeller strikes can seriously injure or kill sea turtles, so to avoid these incidents, slow down when you spot a turtle, stay in channels and avoid boating over their habitat like sea grass beds.