ENVIRONMENTAL ESSAY

We must safeguard the web of life and care about the other living species that we share this planet with. Pygmy tarsiers eat and host bugs that we’ve seen at home — insects, spiders, lizards, bedbugs, lice, fleas, roundworms, and tapeworms.  The vaquitas are preyed upon by large sharks and killer whales, keeping them away from us. But only 10 vaquitas are left and in their absence, the diet of sharks and whales may change. A tiger in the wild indicates that the forest it inhabits is healthy and diverse. As of now, there are 3,900 tigers in the wild globally, and more than twice as many (8,000) in captivity. By protecting the web of life, we build a kinder world for everyone.

Imagine yourself living inside an egg that is buried under the loam. You’re in that egg for two months, incubated by the warm sand until one day, you hatch. Morning is breaking, and you see some 200 others just like you, all making their way to the waters.

As a hawksbill sea turtle hatchling, you must find the sea. This means turning your back to the darkest part around you and following the brightest light on the horizon. You crawl towards the light, knowing that it leads to the shore.

That’s how a hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) is born. It is a water nomad, circumtropical, traveling over 1,000 miles in oceans to find its next dwelling and the next dwelling after that. Its journey unfolds in developmental stages. At each new “home” it will have the same resting spot at the end of its day. And every five years, an adult female hawksbill will return to the same shore where she was born, to lay her own eggs.

Hawksbill sea turtles are found along shorelines of over 108 countries. Unlike all other sea turtles, its mouth is shaped like a hawk’s beak. This allows it to reach difficult crevices and cracks to eat its favorite food, sponges. It has no teeth, but its powerful jaw and beak, in tandem, smash, munch, and shred food.

Another thing unique to hawksbills is their distinctly beautiful shells, randomly spotted and streaked with hues of amber, black, brown, gold, orange, red, and yellow. Additionally, scales overlap the shell, giving it a serrated appearance on the margins at its bottom.

The hawksbill sea turtle is the only sea turtle that can survive mainly on sea sponges, its favorite food. It also eats corals, crustaceans, jellyfish, marine algae, mollusks, plants, sea anemones, sea urchins, small fish, and tunicates. Its sharp beaks allow it to reach deep into cracks and crevices to extract sponges from corals.

Critically endangered

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature IUCN ranks the hawksbill as Critically Endangered, meaning it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. Its shell is in great demand by illegal poachers, which is used to make various items that tourists purchase, unaware that it is illegal to do so.

From the time of ancient Rome, the hawksbill’s shell was used to make combs and rings. But three-fourths of hawksbill trade occurred from 1970 – 1985, and in the last 100 years, 90% of its entire population was decimated.

In 1977, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) declared the hawksbill sea turtle trade illegal, but it’s still ongoing. From 2000 to 2008, China was the main market for 98% of these turtles. They consider the hawksbill to be one of four celestial guardian animals according to legend, protecting people from evil spirits.

Hawksbill shells are used to make combs, jewelry, guitar picks, sunglasses, bags, and cigarette boxes, among others, and the Chinese economy enables more people to buy them. Some hawksbill parts are also used in traditional Chinese medicine.

One product that is particularly in demand is taxidermied hawksbills. Chinese poachers buy them from fishermen in Vietnam and the Philippines for US$70 each, then resell them in their own country for US$1,000. The stuffed turtles are a status symbol, proudly displayed in homes.

This makes hawksbill poaching a thriving business. Chinese poachers from Hainan province get their supplies from Palawan, the Philippines, or Borneo, and smuggle them back to Hainan Island. Other countries that illegally sell hawksbills include Belize, Honduras, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Caribbean.

Japan historically purchased hawksbill shells to make crafts, jewelry, and beautiful shell combs called “bekko”, which for over 300 years had been part of the traditional Japanese wedding dress. However, in 1994 Japan banned the import of hawksbill shells.

Toxic meat and eggs

Hawksbill meat and eggs are eaten in many countries, especially coastal communities. This puts them at risk of illness from toxicity, or death. The fat of the hawksbill can absorb venom from some sponges or animals that it eats, without being affected by it. But people who eat the hawksbill meat and/or eggs are at risk of illness from poisoning, death, and sometimes mass deaths.

Other threats to the hawksbill include becoming bycatch of the fishing nets or hooks, plastic pollution, and loss and degradation of habitat, as the beaches that hawksbills depend on are vanishing globally amid rising sea levels and coastal erosion.

Other threats include the direct harvest of turtles and eggs for illegal trade purposes, predation of eggs and hatchlings, ocean pollution, marine debris,  vessel strikes, and climate change.

Biofluorescent traveling sea nomads

A hawksbill will, in its lifetime, swim thousands of miles through the ocean, although where it will go is not always known. As a hatchling, it will go to the sea and find shelter in the garbage –floating algal mats, flotsam, and jetsam. They won’t be ready to do deep dives, so sometimes they’re seen floating on algae and sea plants. They choose a home where their favorite sponges are abundant.

As they become juveniles, deep in the waters they will light up the dark areas of the sea. This biofluorescent quality is blamed on their diet. As for habitat, juveniles favor rocky reefs, from where they dive into shallow waters for feeding. Other habitat suggestions are nests in sandbanks and atolls of unpeopled islands. Juveniles alternate from short, shallow scavenging dives to deep, long, relaxing dives. Scientists suggest that the longer and deeper dives form part of their resting behavior.

Birthplace ranges

The biggest number of nesting hawksbills are found in Australia and Solomon Islands. Every year, some  2,000 hawksbills will nest on Australia’s northwest coast. Another 6,000 to 8,000 hawksbills will nest annually in the Great Barrier Reef.

The biggest nests of hawksbills are found in the South Pacific Ocean in the Arnavon Islands of the Solomon Islands. Some 2,000 hawksbills nest here annually. For centuries, Arnavon hawksbills were exploited for their shells. But due to conservation and monitoring in the last two decades by conservationists, there are indications of recovery. These turtles also nest in Indonesia, 2,000 annually, and 1,000 annually in the Republic of Seychelles.

Foraging behavior

Scientists have monitored hawksbills from the Solomon Island that traveled 500 to 1000 miles away, to forage in Australia. Less adventurous hawksbills preferred short-distance migrations, staying within a chain of islands. Essentially, they are seen close to seashores of all the major oceans in the world.

Hawksbills live in connected waters, whether they are oceans, seas, et. al., in all tropical areas globally. Other shores where they have been seen are Brazil, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Texas coasts, and southern Florida, among others.

They inhabit ledges and caves formed by coral reefs or rock formations in the waters. Still, others may go for lagoons, mangrove-fringed bays, or sand bars in shallow waters, and estuaries. Maybe they’ll choose a beach with woody vegetation near the waterline. And when they want to lay eggs, they will return to their place of birth and determine whether to lay their eggs underneath the sand or in vegetation.

Organizations helping hawksbill sea turtles

There are many conservationist groups that are working to help protect hawksbills and other sea turtles around the world, too many to list all of them. They include the Sea Turtle Trackers, Karen Beasley Turtle Hospital, JustSea Foundation, Florida Hawksbill Project, HI Hawksbills, Karumbe (Uruguay), Loggerhead Marine Life Center, Sea Turtle Foundation, The National Marine Fisheries Service (informally called NOAA Fisheries), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The latter two groups share jurisdiction of sea turtles listed under the ESA. NOAA Fisheries is in charge of recovery and conservation efforts for sea turtles in the marine environment, and the U.S. FWS leads the conservation and recovery efforts for sea turtles on nesting beaches. Because the hawksbill sea turtle inhabits the shores of 108 countries, working in partnership with international organizations is a necessity. They are doing the following, among others:

  1. Conducting research to modify fishing gear designs and fishing practices.

  2. Designating conservation areas for hawksbill turtles.

  3. Protecting and monitoring hawksbill turtles in their habitats.

  4. Developing conservation measures to reduce threats and promote recovery of the hawksbill.

  5. Studying the hawksbill’s biology and ecology to inform conservation management strategies, and assess progress toward recovery.

  6. Working to raise public awareness about the need to conserve the hawksbill sea turtle.

  7. Working with partners to address illegal sea turtle trade.

Ecological contribution of the hawksbill sea turtles

Hawksbill sea turtles play a specific role in their ecosystems. They help to keep reefs healthy by feeding primarily on sponges. Many sponge species contain toxic substances, but they don’t affect the hawksbill turtle. Furthermore, there are more sponges than corals in the waters, and someone has to eat them to keep the corals healthy. In doing so, it also helps reef fish to more easily access food to eat. Hawksbills are the only sea turtles that feed on sponges and fortunately, it’s their favorite food. If sponges grew unchecked, they would pose a threat to the survival of the corals and reef fish.

Hawksbills also play a vital ecological role in connecting marine ecosystems. Without the hawksbill sea turtle, the coral reefs and seagrass beds of the waters will fail to thrive.