Sea Turtles of Ghana

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WILDSEAS .ORG

SEA TURTLE & SHARKC O N S E R V A T I O N

About Wildseas

Wildseas is a voluntary organisation that was established in response towitnessing the widespread destruction and uncontrolled exploitation ofour marine environment that takes place everyday.

Covering over 70% of the planet, the oceans provide the majority of ouroxygen, are the planets largest carbon sink, regulate temperatures and control climates worldwide. The oceans are what gives life and without living oceans we would have no life on land.

While this destruction is indiscriminate and affects all species we are awarethat in our capacity as a small organisation we unfortunately do not havethe ability or resources to protect all species and therefore made the decision to concentrate our efforts primarily on two species, sea turtlesand sharks, we also focus on other species from time to time.

Our campaigns involve raising awareness through talks and the distributionof fact sheets about the decimitation of shark populations worldwide andsea turtle nesting beach protection and scientific monitoring programs.

We receive no State funding from any State or any Government body nordo we want any funding from these sources as it commits us to working totheir agenda and removes our impartiality and freedom.

This activity and colouring book may be copied and reproduced in whole without chargesubject to no alterations being made.

Some Information About Sea Turtles

Sea turtles have been roaming our seas for around 100 million years.Originally from the land these air breathing reptiles migrated to the sea andslowly adapted their land features to suit their water based lives, over timetheir legs transformed into aerodynamic flippers and their shells becamemore streamlined making their journey through the water more efficient.

These days there are seven species of sea turtles known to inhabit our seasand oceans. These are Leatherback, Loggerhead, Green, Hawksbill, OliveRidley, Kemps Ridley and the Flatback. Of the seven species six have hardshells, known as the carapace, while the largest of the sea turtles, theLeatherback, has a soft leathery shell.

Unlike land turtles and tortoises sea turtles do not have the ability toretract their limbs into their shells for protection from predators. Despitethis sea turtles have survived while the giant terrestrial turtles, just like thedinosaurs, have become extinct. However, despite their aquatic adaptationssea turtles surface to breathe air just like terrestrial turtles.

Once they hatch from their nests, normally under the cover of darkness,sea turtles make their way to the sea which will be their home for life, malesea turtles will never venture onto dry land again and the only time femaleswill come ashore will be to lay eggs, in this respect they are still tied to theland they left so long ago.

Modern Threats to Sea Turtles

Sea turtles are still hunted around the world for their meat and shells.A real threat to future turtle populations is the collection of their eggs for food and the misconception in some parts of the world that they arean aphrodisiac. Turtles had previously been hunted sustainably for manycenturies but modern fishing methods and other threats have caused theirpopulations to decline completely in the last 50 to 100 years.

Many thousands of turtles are caught each year as ‘by-catch’ in other fisheries industries both by nets and longlines. As they cannot surface tobreathe once they are trapped they slowly drown. Many also fall victim topropeller strikes from boats. Many fishermen kill sea turtles in the beliefthat are depriving them of fish.This simply is not the case. Sea turtles, alongwith many other predators are needed to keep the balance of the oceanshealthy, if the oceans go too far out of balance then all fish stocks will collapse, leaving nothing for anyone.

Sea turtles often mistake discarded plastic bags for jellyfish (a large part oftheir diet, especially for Leatherbacks) and end up choking on them or having their intestines blocked so they can no longer eat or digest any food.The problem of widespread pollution of the seas through oil spills,chemical dumping and rubbish dumping, especially plastics, also poses a serious threat to their survival.

Sea turtle hatchlings emerging on beaches often mistake terrestrial lightsfor the moon and consequently move away from the sea and go inlandwhere they either die or are eaten by predators. Sea turtles come ashoreto nest on beaches and mother sea turtles return to nest in the same area,and usually the same beach, where they were born. Many of these nestingbeaches are now being developed by people, destroying and removing nesting grounds for future generations of sea turtles.

Good for Sea Turtles

A turtle excluder device (TED), it lets turtles caught in shrimp nets escapewithout causing them any harm.

Bad for Sea Turtles

A fishing longline. These longlines catch many species that they do not target.The unwanted species are thrown away dead.

The LeatherbackDermochelys coriacea

They have leathery thin skin, scutelessblack carapace with five distinct andprominent longitudinal ridges, colorationblack with white spots, carapace length toabout 180cm, weight up to 900kg, found inall oceans except Arctic and Antarctic,temperate or tropical. Their main diet isjellyfish, crabs and other fish.Average nestsize is 85 - 90 eggs. The leatherback isboth the biggest and deepest diving of thesea turtles.

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The Olive RidleyLepidochelys olivacea

The Olive Ridley has a hard carapace withseven lateral scutes, coloration olive-green, maximum carapace length to about72cm, weight up to about 43kg, found inAtlantic, Indian and tropical Pacific oceans.Their main diet is clams, crabs, jellyfish andsnails, they also eat some algae. Averagenest size is anywhere between 50 and 200eggs.The Olive Ridley is a frequent visitorto the shores of Ghana.

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The Green TurtleChelonia mydas

Head small and round, hard carapace withfour lateral scutes, coloration mainly lightto dark brown but can be shaded witholive, maximum carapace length to about122cm, weight up to about 204kg, foundthroughout tropical and sub-tropicalAtlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. Theirmain diet is sea grass (turtle grass) androoted algae. Their average nest size is 100 - 110 eggs.They are named the green turtle for the green colored fat that isunderneath their shell that was used inmaking turtle soup.

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The HawksbillEretmochelys imbricata

Head long and narrow with pointed beak,hard carapace with four lateral scutes,coloration mainly dark amber with brownor black streaks, maximum carapacelength to about 89cm, weight up to about74kg, found mainly along coral reefs intropical oceans.Their main diet is sponges.Average nest size is 90 - 115 eggs. Theyare endangered because people used theirshells to make jewelry. They got theirname because their pointed beak lookslike a birds beak and they like to eat fish,crabs and snails.

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The LoggerheadCaretta caretta

Head very large with strong crushing jaw,hard carapace with 5 lateral scutes,coloration reddish brown, the maximumcarapace length to about 124cm, weightup to about 200kg, found in estuaries, onthe continental shelf and pelagic (open)ocean. Their main diet consists of crabs,molluscs, assorted invertebrates and seapens. Their average nest size is between80 and 120 eggs. Nowadays not nearly asmany loggerheads nest on Gahnian shoresas did many years ago due to egg takingand using the mothers for meat.

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How You Can Help Sea Turtles

• Report any stranded or washed up Sea Turtle (dead or alive) to your local authority or resort manager

• Boycott hotels and resorts at nesting beaches that don’t turn their beach lights down during the local nesting season

• Inform family and friends about the plight of the Sea Turtles and the effects of longlining

• Do not use powered watercraft or jet skis near nesting beaches during the nesting season

• Do not buy any turtle or tortoiseshell products • Bring home all rubbish from the beach as this can get washed out to sea• Do not buy property at unethical developments around nesting beaches• Petition your local public representative about the destructive effects of

longline fisheries

If You See a Sea Turtle Nesting

• Do not disturb her or she will leave without nesting!• If your sighting is during the day, inform your resort manager• Turn off your torch light immediately• Never shine a torch directly on a turtle, especially not into their eyes• Do not take any photographs until a guide or resort manager tells you it

is ok to do so• Don’t take photographs until the turtle has finished laying eggs• Stand well back from the turtle until she has begun laying her eggs• When she has started the laying process, you can stand nearer but only

on either side or behind her

Good and Bad for Sea Turtles

Below is a selection of items a sea turtle may come across in its everydaylife. Put a tick through each thing you think is good and an x through thosethings you think are bad for sea turtles:

From the Nest to the Sea

Once the mother turtle has made her nest using her flippers on the beachand laid her soft leathery eggs, she covers up the nest again with her flippers and goes back out to sea.That is the last contact the mother haswith her eggs.

Under the surface in the nest heat from the sun warms the sand and helpsthe eggs to develop over about the next 60 days when the hatchlings willbe ready to come out. If the nest is really warm most of the babys will befemale but if the nest is not too warm then it will be mostly males.

Once the hatchlings are ready to come out they bite at their shells using apoint on their beak, this point will disappear early in their lives and is onlydesigned for opening the egg.

It is a big job to climb 30cm up through the sand and for that reason almostall the babyss hatch at the same time so they can work together pushingaway the sand from above them to below them and raising themselves outof the nest.

If it is bright sunlight and very warm the hatchlings wait under the sandnear the top of the nest.They only have a small reserve of liquid in theirbodies and need to save that for getting to the sea when they will startdrinking lots of water.When night falls they make their way through the topsand onto the beach.

Once they are on the beach they rush for the sea using the moon as theirguide because it reflects off the waters surface. Once in the water theystart swimming away from the shore out into the open sea popping theirlittle heads up for air every few seconds.They will not be seen again for 9or 10 years.

A Sea Turtles Life

After about 10 years what were once little hatchlings only 5 or 6cm longstart to come back in from the open ocean to continue their developmentcloser to land. By now they are the size of a dinner plate. For the next fewyears they will live pretty quiet lives continuing to grow into adults.

After some time they will then start their migrations again in search offood. Most sea turtles like only warm waters but because of it’s thick layerof fat under its soft skin the Leatherback can venture into colder waters insearch of food. Because of this the Leatherback undertakes the longestmigrations both north / south and east / west.

Between all this hard work of looking for food sea turtles like to take a restnow and again. If the weather is nice they can be found basking at the surface of the water warming themselves in the sunshine.

It is estimated that for every 1,000 hatchlings bore only one will live lingenough to reproduce themselves. For the lucky ones the time comes intheir lives after 25 or 30 years that they want to pass on their genes andhave hatchlings of their own. Now they travel not only for food but also tofind a partner with whom they can mate. Finding a mate is something thathappens close to land, this ensures that the female does not have to makelong migrations with the fertilized eggs inside her.

Now it is time for mother turtle to venture back onto land and lay her eggslike she has done for millions of years. She will leave the beach again afternesting to let nature take its course once again and hopefully her ownhatchlings will come into the world shortly afterwards.

Hungry Harry

Can you help Hungry Harry, the Hawksbill we met earlier in the book, tofind his way through the maze so that he doesn’t get caught by the fishingboat but gets the tasty crab he wants instead?

Fun Sea Turtle Facts

• The Leatherback is the biggest of the sea turtles

• Sea turtles can be found all over the world except in really cold waters

• Sea turtles come to the surface of the water to breathe

• They can hold their breath underwater for up to 5 hours

• Sea turtles spend between 94% and 97% of their time underwater

• Male sea turtles have much bigger tails than females

• Sea turtles have been around for over 100 million years

• The green turtle eats sea grass and small plants which gives it the green colour in its fat layers

• Sea turtles lay eggs in the sand on the beach

• Female adults return to the beach on which they were born to lay their own eggs

• They use their front flippers to move and their back flippers to steer

• Sea turtles can live to be 80 - 100 years old

• The Flatback sea turtle only lives on the north coast of Australia

• Sea turtles do not have any teeth

• The Kemp’s Ridley is the smallest of the sea turtles

• A mother sea turtle can spend up to 3 hours making her nest and laying her eggs

• Sea turtles are under threat from fisheries and pollution

Fun Quiz

Q1.True or false: sea turtles have teethA1. _________________________________________________________

Q2.Where do sea turtles lay their eggs?A2. _________________________________________________________

Q3.What do sea turtles use their back flippers for?A3. _________________________________________________________

Q4.What set turtle lives on the north coast of Australia?A4. _________________________________________________________

Q5.True or false: the Leatherback is the biggest of the sea turtlesA5. _________________________________________________________

Q6.To what age can sea turtles live?A6. _________________________________________________________

Q7.Which sea turtle eats sea grass and small plants?A7. _________________________________________________________

Q8.True or false: sea turtles have been around for about 100 million yearsA8. _________________________________________________________

Q9.Where do sea turtles go to breathe? A9. _________________________________________________________

Q10.True or false: sea turtles are threatened by fisheries and pollutionA10. ________________________________________________________

Glossary

Carapace Top portion of the shell.Clutch A nest of eggs.Endangered There are not many left.The species is in danger of

becoming extinct.Extinct No more of a species left.Flipper Tag A metal tag put on the flipper, like an ear piercing.Habitat The type of environment in which a creature normally

lives.Hatchling A baby sea turtle, just after it hatches.Longline A fishing line anything from 1km to 100kms long with

fishing hooks suspended off it every few metres.Plastron Underside of the turtles shell.Satellite An object that orbits the earth, in this case they are man

made, and function as relay stations for tracking tags.Scute The “scales” or divisions on a turtles head or shell.Species The basic unit of living things, consisting of a group of

individuals which all look more or less alike and which can all breed with each other to produce another generation of similar creatures.

Stranding When an animal that normally lives in the water is washed up on the beach. For a sea turtle, this is anytime it might be found on the beach except for when the mother is nesting or the hatchlings are headed to sea.

TED Turtle Excluder Device.A trap door in a shrimp net which will allow the sea turtles an escape route.

Threatened The species is in decline.This is one step above being considered endangered.

Tracks The pattern left in the sand by a turtle.

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WILDSEAS .ORG

SEA TURTLE & SHARKC O N S E R V A T I O N

Marine Conservation Through Education and Action