Layla Negron, Joseph Battin School # 4
Union County
Second Place, Union County, Atlantic Green Sea Turtle (c) Layla Negron
Atlantic Green Turtle
I want humans to know that people are killing us for our skin, meat, and shells. Exploitation has caused extinctions of the populations in Bermuda and theCayman Islands. We need to be protected because we eat sea grass and the sea grass needs to be eaten constantly so it can grow again on the sea floor. We help cut the grass short to help maintain the sea grass beds. The sea grass beds provide breeding grounds for numerous species of fish like, shellfish and crustaceans. Without the sea grass beds, many of the marine species that humans harvest would be lost, as well as its food chain.
We sea turtles, journey between land and sea. In our life time we swim thousands of miles in the ocean. We reproduce every 10 years, and return to the same beach where we were born to lay our eggs. Only a few of our hatchlings will survive their life journey. We depend on beaches for nesting. Due to human activities on beaches, our area where we nest is being disturbed and destroyed. Aside from the challenges we face every day, we also are affected by the climate change. 9ur ocean's temperature when extremely warm can affect the sex of our offspring. When this happens it affects the chance of a male being hatched. Without a male we can't reproduce and then there will not be many of us left.
We are a very important species because we have existed on earth for about 100 million years. To help save our species humans can stop fishing in tropical and sub-tropical oceans, where we mostly live. Humans should seriously consider protecting the beaches that we nest and live to give our species a chance at survival. Humans can hand out flyers with information and or develop a website to help protect us and our habitats. This will help give knowledge to humans about what has happened to our species. Just like humans and other species we live on earth and have families to protect and life cycles to complete. Please take into consideration that our species needs saving, not only for our sake, but for the better of the world.
Written By: Layla E. Negron
Joseph Battin School #4, Elizabeth, NJ
Teacher: Mr. Michael Piazza