The juvenile hawksbill turtle found near-dead, buried in the sand and choking on plastic rubbish was yesterday returned to the sea off Magnetic Island.During an eight-month stint as the VIP patient in Townsville”s Reef HQ turtle hospital, Alva was hand-fed, bathed, scrubbed and X-rayed at a cost of about $5000.
May, 2009
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21 May
Injured green sea turtle rescued
Don Heacock has two words for ocean boaters in areas known to be frequented by sea turtles: “speed kills.” Speeding boats and their razor-sharp propellers are responsible for four or five “vessel-related turtle deaths this year” in Kaua‘i waters, said Heacock, aquatic biologist with the state Department of Land and …
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8 May
Palm Beach Police arrest man with 119 endangered sea turtle eggs
Stealing the eggs is a third degree felony and a potential tragedy to those who monitor the health of local sea turtles, all of which are considered by federal law to be endangered or threatened species that struggle to perpetuate their numbers. The man accused of stealing the eggs, homeless …
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7 May
U.S. bans Costa Rican shrimp
The investigations of a national sea turtle conservation group has helped lead to a U.S. embargo on all Costa Rican shrimp. The U.S. Department of State”s Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science announced it has stopped importing Costa Rican shrimp, effective May 1.
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1 May
Dead turtles found along Coast
State marine officials are studying a rash of unexplained sea turtle deaths that have recently occurred along Mississippi beaches. The turtles have included two loggerhead turtles and five Kemp’s Ridley turtles. The latest turtle was discovered near the ruins of an old pier on the Waveland beach, westward of the …
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1 May
All commercial turtle harvesting may be banned in Florida
Under a newly proposed law, all commercial harvesting of freshwater turtles will be completely banned in Florida. The draft rule that bans commercial harvesting of Florida”s diverse freshwater turtle population was passed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on April 15, with a final vote to be held …
April, 2009
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29 April
Temporary Gulf fishing ban to help sea turtles
In a move to protect sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico, federal regulators announced Wednesday they are restricting a fishing technique used to catch red grouper in waters off the Florida west coast. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the use of long fishing lines with hooks and …
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20 April
PMBC treats injured 120kg green sea turtle
Veterinarians at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) are treating an enormous green sea turtle whose carapace was cracked open by fishermen operating illegally in the waters off Rawai Beach.
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16 April
Groups Sue Federal Government Over Sea Turtles
A half dozen conservation groups have sued the federal government, claiming the agency that oversees the Gulf of Mexico fishery is violating the Endangered Species Act by failing to protect threatened sea turtles.
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11 April
Alarming number of sea turtles wash ashore
In a month, 217 loggerhead and green turtles have been found ashore in five counties. Dead and sick sea turtles are washing up on beaches at roughly three times the normal rate from Duval to Brevard County, and biologists don”t know why. Between Jan. 1 and April 2, 113 loggerheads …
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5 April
Mexico Ecological Park to Set Record for Turtle Hatchings
Xcaret, Mexico’s biggest private ecological park, will set a record this year with 2,000 baby turtles hatched in the park as part of a successful program of breeding and releasing these endangered marine creatures, company executives told Efe.
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4 April
Protecting the Leatherbacks
We now can sadly add another animal wonder to the list of declining natural populations: Leatherback turtles, which nest on tropical beaches, near the Pacific islands, and migrate all the way up to the coasts of California and Oregon each year, are in danger of becoming extinct in the next …