By: Jon Mooallem
Summary:The article I read was about how the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico effected a whole generation of sea turtles. Every year, hoards of female sea turtles come to the beaches of Florida and Alabama to lay their eggs in the sand. This year all the baby sea turtles would not even make it a month in the oil so people are now transporting thousands of turtle eggs from the oily beaches of the gulf, to the oil free beaches of eastern Florida. The problem with doing this is now all those turtles that hatch on the other side of Florida will not come back to where they were originally born. People are now scared that in a few years there will be no more sea turtles that lay their eggs in Alabama and Florida.
Opinion: I believe that this will not be a problem in future years. Sea turtles can live to be up to 100 years old. The turtles that Lay their eggs on the beaches on the west side of Florida will be there next year and the year after that. Although sea turtles are very vulnerable to things like oils spills they will be hardly effected by this one. I hope that in later years the sea turtles in Alabama will be at full strength again.
Questions:
- How do you think moving the turtles will effect the ecosystems on both sides?
- Do you think the oil will stop turtles from coming back to their hatching beaches?
- How do you think the moved turtles will do in their new environment?
Reflection:
ReplyDeleteLately almost all the news are about the horrible effects of the oil spill! This is down right wrong. We cannot let all of these bad things happen because of one spill. Our government needs to take the time to clean this up and BP needs to take responsibility for their actions and help make it better. I agree with Cole. I think that the turtles will eventually make it back to their home. They have a very long life and we can somehow manage to lead them back to their home.
Here is an interesting link about the other side of this turtle argument.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/gulf-mexico-oil-spill-turtles-dying-oil/story?id=10565355
Opinion:
ReplyDeleteCole makes a good point that sea turtles live a long time and can make it back home. At some point, after this whole tragedy is taken care of, the sea turtles will find their way home, and if not, we can transport them here. I do not think this will be a huge issue. The oil spill is causing a ridiculous amount of problems and needs to be taken care of immediately. It has gone on for much too long and is affecting way too many people and animals. People are out of jobs, species are dying and habitats are destroyed. The sea turtles will survive, but other things may not.
Check out this video about another animal that was affected by the oil spill.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npA_q1L-K6U&feature=player_embedded#!
Opinion: I see where Cole is coming from with his opinion and he does make a valid point, but won't some of the sea turtles die from the oil in the water. There will be less and less sea turtles as they can die from human causes, like the oil spill, and natural causes like a food drought. I agree that turtles do live a long time and that they probably will get through this and lay eggs where they always have, but isn't there a small chance that these animals will die from causes, both natural and human, and not be able to lay their eggs at their usual positions.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to #2: Yes, I believe that some of the turtles will stop going to their normal beaches because of the oil in the water. I don't believe that they will be able to swim through the vast area of oil in the water. They will either die or have to turn back and lay their eggs at another beach.
Opinion: I am also worried for the turtles. I believe that people transporting these turtles are very generous but yet again, they could be killing the environment. I think I heard or read somewhere that female turtles come back to the beach where they were born to lay their eggs for future generations to come. If people disrupt this tradition, who knows what will rise out of it? I mean, it's a lose-win situation here. Either we save the turtles now and possibly ruin their future or we leave them be and let them take care of themselves.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2: There could be numerous reasons why the turtles don't come back to lay eggs when they are mature enough. When the turtles are first hatched from their shells, they are very vulnerable, such as other newborn creatures. The oil spill is killing many full grown fish and sea creatures so how hard would it be for it to kill baby turtles? And who knows how long the oil will last. It could take a while to clean it up and during that period of cleaning, the newly hatched turtles might come back to lay there eggs. But then again, the oil could kill the turtles on their journey to the coast.