By Robert Ovetz, Ph.D., Sea Turtle Restoration Project

Davidson, Turtle culture , draft unpublished chapter, Fire in the Turtle House The Green Sea Turtle and the Fate of the Ocean, Public Affairs NY, 2001.

One such story I did documented the leatherback sea turtle.

Conversely, developing countries would benefit most increasing sea turtle populations.

In fact, a number of communities in developing countries home to sea turtle nesting habitats have profited from successful efforts to conserve sea turtle populations through enhanced eco tourism.

Reducing sea turtle mortality through reductions in longline bycatch would save money by reducing the need for costly, emergency sea turtle conservation efforts that are not calculated in the true costs of industrial fishing.

And then his sidekick is a sea turtle, as I mentioned before, named Filmore.

Turtle is the foundation. Likewise, in Samoa the belief that the islands float upon the backs of giant sea turtles goes back many generations in China many place the entire universe on the back of the sea turtle, and the people of Tokelau and Bora Bora believe their peoples were carried to one another's island on the back of a sea turtle.

Current spending on sea turtle conservation efforts is estimated at U.S. 20 million per year.

Leatherback sea turtles get hooked on longlines and often drown before the line is reeled and the sea turtle can be released.

Currently, there are 92 sea turtle nesting sites in 43 countries annually toured by 175,000 visitors.

In contrast to Costa Rica, which has made local conservation and international efforts at the 5th Informal Consultative Process of the UN Convention for the Law of the Sea in 2004 top priorities of sea turtle conservation, Malaysia has suffered heavy losses in sea turtle populations and tourism revenues.

The near total extinction from 1994 to 2002 created a collapse in sea turtle tourism and revenues.

The swordfish fishery was closed and the tuna fishery subject to time area closures due to high levels of sea turtle and sea bird bycatch.

Writer Osha Gray Davidson relates that a number of island cultures trace their origins to the sea turtle.

For example, revenue from sea turtle tourism at the leatherback nesting beach at Playa Grande, Costa Rica, was 1,121,057 in 2002.

Buy me a turtle, Mom, please buy me a turtle!

Please buy me a turtle, Mother, please buy me a turtle.

Noting with satisfaction also the recent adoption of regional sea turtle conservation instruments in the West African and Indian Ocean South East Asia regions,

Ross, J. Sea Turtle Management Plan for the Sultanate of Oman. Report to Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and Omani American Joint Commission, 1987.

Malaysia, one of the first countries to encourage sea turtle tourism in the 1960s, provides an example of how unrestricted fishing can impact tourism revenues.

Because developing countries are home to the overwhelming majority of sea turtle populations, for example, these countries have the most to gain from protecting the species.

This was Bert the Turtle.

Hawaiian spiritual teachers relate the creation myth of the sea turtle as the benevolent character who inhabits the spiritual world and the physical world at the same time.

(g) Request States and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements to urgently implement all measures recommended in the FAO Guidelines to Reduce Sea Turtle Mortality in Fishing Operations to help prevent the decline of all species of sea turtles

Ovetz, R., Pillaging the Pacific Pelagic Longline Fishing Captures or Kills About 4.4 Million Sharks, Billfish, Seabirds, Sea Turtles, and Marine Mammals Each Year in the Pacific Ocean, a report by the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, November 16, 2004.

Governments spend money on sea turtle conservation because of the role turtles play in maintaining healthy sea grass and coral reef ecosystems, reducing sponges and jellyfish, preserving the cultural and spiritual heritage of island and coastal communities, and attracting ecotourism.

Inspect this turtle. 320. Generation 13.

Take a walk with a turtle.

If the empty spaces is less than the amount of spaces, the turtle needs to live, the turtle needs to die.

The best example of quality of life is the turtle because the turtle is an example of living and working together.

The cost of illegal fishing of green sea turtles in Costa Rica in 2000 was estimated to be 1,142 per turtle due to losses in visitors to nesting beaches and habitats when populations decline.

As a consequence of the global distribution of sea turtles, the future of marine turtle populations and their potential to generate benefits to human societies depend mainly on policies implemented in countries with developing economies.

This backgrounder is an excerpt from the book Striplining the Pacific The Case for A United Nations Moratorium on High Seas Industrial Longline Fishing, Sea Turtle Restoration Project, 2005, pp. 71 101, available at www.seaturtles.org.

Developing countries account for a striking 78 91 percent of the countries where five of the seven species of sea turtles live, and 61 percent of these countries are home to two or more turtle species.

Because nature oriented tourism is growing at 10 30 percent per year far faster than the growth of general tourism at 4 percent annually the potential benefits to developing countries with significant sea turtle populations is great.

If you're sitting on any space with another turtle, then just die.

Or the bog turtle, needing wet meadows and insects and sunny places.

Recognizing the endorsement of the Guidelines to Reduce Sea Turtle Mortality in Fishing Operations by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Committee on Fisheries at its twenty sixth session, held from 5 to 11 March 2005,

And when you realize that the casque of the turtle looks like an urban tessitura, and can we imagine, if we cut the casque of the turtle, how sad she's going to be?

Recognizing the endorsement of the Guidelines to Reduce Sea Turtle Mortality in Fishing OperationsFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Report of the Technical Consultation on Sea Turtles Conservation and Fisheries, Bangkok, Thailand, 29 November 2 December 2004, FAO Fisheries Report No. 765 (FIRM R765(En)), appendix E. by the Committee on Fisheries at its twenty sixth session,

This is the largest, widest ranging, deepest diving and oldest of all turtle species.

These are the countries that stand to lose most from continued marine turtle decline.

We did this with the Great Turtle Race tagged turtles, brought in four million hits.

And every now and then, find a friend, find a turtle, and take a long, slow walk.