Sea turtles have inhabited the world's oceans since the age of the dinosaurs, but are now on the brink of extinction. The so-called leatherback's female population has plummeted from 90,000 to 2,000 in the past two decades, and the survival of threatened turtle eggs is more critical than ever.
Global warming has been another detrimental factor, as turtle nests are vulnerable to minute changes in temperature. Since the gender of the animal is determined by the amount of heat in incubation, small rises in beach temperatures can result in all-female populations, obviously a setback to species survival.
The turtles are a sad story. The conservationists are blaming fisherman for poorly laid nets, but fisherman deny the charges saying they rarely catch sea turtles. The evidence is that the sea turtles have bulging eyes and neck, which indicates that they have died due to lack of oxygen. It is my own theory that this is true. However, global warming may be the cause of these deaths, due to high pH levels in the water creating dead zones in the oceans which are bodies of water without oxygen.
The Blue Jellyfish in Australia are another example of how warming waters are reaking havoc on the marine life. More than 30,000 people were stung by the blue jellyfish in 2006, which is twice as many than in 2005. Scientists are blaming this on warming ocean temperatures which cause the jellyfish grow in numbers. This phenomenon is consistant across the world with all varieties of jellyfish growing in numbers.
