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Turtle in an epic journey

BANGKOK: Scientists tracked a leatherback turtle that swam from Indonesia to the U.S. in an epic 20,000-km journey as it searched for food. They hope the finding would boost international efforts to save the endangered species.

Leatherbacks, which can grow up to 2.75 m in length, have roamed the oceans for 100 million years. But researchers at the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service in California say commercial fishing makes the oceans too dangerous for the globe-trotting sea turtles, which face extinction if no action is taken.

“Migrations of this magnitude expose animals to a multitude of risks from fisheries on the high seas,” Scott Benson and Peter Dutton, scientists with the service, co-wrote in a paper that appeared in Chelonian Conservation and Biology. “Effective conservation requires a better understanding of migratory routes and destinations to understand and mitigate the risks at sea,” they wrote.

The leatherback is the world’s most endangered sea turtle. It is estimated that fewer than 5,000 adult females now live in the Pacific region. Males cannot be easily counted because they do not come ashore. — AP

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