are leatherback sea turtles endangered
Endangered Species ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 2012 Annual Report 78 Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Leatherback Sea Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). Diver attempts to rescue a leatherback turtle caught in a net. Worldwide, hundreds of thousands of sea turtles a year are accidentally caught in shrimp trawl nets, on longline hooks and in fishing gillnets. Sea turtles need to reach the surface to breathe, and therefore many drown once caught. Leatherback turtles are named for their shell, which is leather-like rather than hard, like other turtles. They are the largest sea turtle species and also one of the most migratory, crossing both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Pacific leatherbacks migrate from nesting beaches in the Coral Triangle all the way to the California coast to feed on the abundant jellyfish every summer and fall. The leatherback is the only sea turtle that lacks a hard, bony shell. Its shell is composed of a mosaic of small bones covered by firm, rubbery skin. A leatherback's top shell (carapace) has seven longitudinal ridges and tapers to a blunt point. The skin is predominantly black with varying degrees of pale spotting. Sources of Uncertainty: Although monitoring of nesting activities by adult female sea turtles is the most common metric recorded and reported across sites and species, globally, there are several disadvantages to using it as a proxy for overall population dynamics, some methodological, some interpretive (NRC 2010). Does not qualify for Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, or Near Threatened. Leatherback turtles come to nest on the French Guiana coasts almost all year, but there are two main seasons, the big one from April to August and the smaller one from November to January. State Status: Endangered, 1981. Federal Status: Endangered, 1970. The leatherback sea turtle (Figure 1) is the sole member of the family Dermochelyidae; all other sea turtles belong to the Cheloniidae. The leatherback is the largest, deepest diving, and most migratory and wide ranging of the sea turtles (Figure 2). The change in IUCN Red List Category from Critically Endangered (in 2000) to Vulnerable (assessment year 2010) is mostly due to new datasets made available for assessment, and associated detection of increasing trends that were not reported previously, as well as a rigorous application of the IUCN 3.1 Criteria. Threats to Leatherbacks vary in time and space, and in relative impact to populations. Threat categories affecting marine turtles, including Leatherbacks, were described by Wallace et al. Leatherback turtles consume large numbers of jellyfish which helps to keep populations of these marine organisms in check. Marine turtles, including leatherbacks, also provide a vital source of income as a draw for ecotourism in coastal communities, especially in the Coral Triangle.
Yes