Dear Turtle Trackers:
Farewell to Turtle # 11462
Thanks to our voyaging Turtle # 11462 who sent us so much data! The
transmitter has run out of power so we must say goodbye for now. Dr.
Standora said "When we started the project the transmitter battery voltage
was over 12. During the last transmission it was about 8 volts. The
transmitter did more than we expected and the turtle gave us a fantastic
track." With just one week left of our spring turtle tracking project, we
say "so long" to turtle # 11462, and thanks for lasting so long! The last
location Dr. Standora received for Turtle # 11462 was April 20 and at
that time the turtle was at 36.200N and 45.516W.
What is a "TED"?
In last week's Challenge Question # 103, we asked you to tell us what a
"TED" is, and how it works to prevent sea turtles from being captured and
drown in shrimping and fishing nets. Thanks to all the students who
responded and told us about TEDs. All of you did a great job, and we've
typed your answers below.
Thanks to Isabell Jaggard from Mrs. Beck's class in Tallahassee FL, and to the first grade class at Atholton Elementary School in Columbia MD who told us that "TED" stands for a "turtle excluder device" that is placed on a shrimp net (called a "trawl").Turtles need to come to the surface to breathe, and if they get trapped underwater they can drown.
How it Works
A TED works like an escape hatch for the turtles so they can get out of the
trawl. Think of a shrimp trawl as a huge funnel-shaped net that is pulled
horizontally behind a boat with the wide end at the front and the narrow
end at the back. Normally, any sea creature that goes in the wide front end
of the net, large or small, will be pushed toward the narrow back end and
captured, including sea turtles.
To help the sea turtles from being captured, a TED is put about halfway down the funnel-shaped net. The TED has some angled bars and an escape hatch. Thanks to Rose, Ashley, and Steph from Scott Young Public School in Ontario Canada who told us how the TED lets the turtle out of the net. They said that "at the end of the funnel there are bars, and when the larger turtles slide down the funnel and hit the bars, then they hit a webbed flap which they open and escape without letting any of the fish and shrimp." The shrimp and other fish are small enough to go right through the bars and be captured in the back of the net. Sometimes, though, the younger turtles are also small enough to still get trapped in the net, so hopefully the TEDs can be improved to save the smaller turtles too.
The Many Hurdles of Turtles
The loggerhead sea turtles are facing another serious pressure on their
survival when new resorts or other buildings are built on or near the
turtles' nesting beaches. For example, in Florida people like the beaches
for vacations. But the loggerheads need the beaches to lay their eggs.
Tough Choices--Environmental Impact Statement
What should be done in this situation? This is a question that people
should study very thoroughly before anyone is allowed to change the nesting
beaches. This type of study is called an "Environmental Impact Statement"
or an "EIS" for short. Many governments require an EIS to be done before
any area of natural habitat can be changed.
You're the Scientist!
This week we want your help in doing an Environmental Impact Statement on
what might happen if a developer wanted to build a new hotel on one of the
beaches where the loggerheads nest. The turtles and their ancestors have
been coming to this beach for thousands of years.
Imagine that some developers want to build and name a new hotel called "Turtle Towers." Study the following information about the beach and the planned hotel, and think about these and other "tough choices" the city would face when thinking about this hotel.
* In spring and summer the beach is a nesting area for loggerhead sea
turtles.
* Loggerhead sea turtles are a threatened species
* The hotel will bring new jobs to the city.
* The project would begin by digging up the beach in May.
* The hotel plan would cover most of the beach with concrete for a patio
area.
* The hotel plan has bright lights on the beach all night for their guests.
The city wants to know if the hotel project would have any effects on the loggerheads that come to the beach to nest. Pretend that you are the scientist, and that you have to tell the city what you think by answering Challenge Question # 112.
Challenge Question # 112 -- Environmental Impact Statement
Write your own EIS in a letter to city officials that answers these
questions: "How will the loggerheads that nest at this beach be affected
if Turtle Towers is built there? How about other living things that rely on
the beach?
(To respond to this challenge question, read the instructions below)
Note To Teachers
Please remind the students to consider both sides of this issue. Also, to
help you get started, you might want to have students read these magazine
articles: "Sea Turtles: In a Race for Survival" by Anne and Jack Rudloe
(National Geographic, Feb. 1994) and "Cast Ashore" by Leslie Allen (Nature
Conservancy, May/June 1994).)
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Responses to Challenge Question # 103:
From MARYLAND:
We've learned that a TED is a Turtle Excluder Device. It helps
save turtles because it is like a trap door at the end of the
net. The turtles can push on the door, it opens, and they can
safely swim out. That way, they don't drown.
Bernie, Matt, Rebecca and David, First Grade Students, Atholton
Elementary School, Columbia, Maryland.
mlewis@umd5.umd.edu
From FLORIDA:
Do you know how many turtles have died from U.S. shrimp trawiing this
year? This year fifty-five thousand sea turtles have died from U.S.
shrimp trawling,because they have all ran out of air.Now people are
finding out a way to stop killing sea turtles.People have invented a
turtle excluder divise.How it works is you put it inside the net and it
has a little flap and bars so when the turtles go through the net it will
hit the bar and the flap will open and the turtle will escape but the
shrimp will not.
Isabell Jaggard
Academic Resource Center
Tallahassee, FL
From ONTARIO:
TED is a equipped trawl that turtles can escape from. At the end of the
funnel there are bars, the turtles slide down the funnel and hit the
bars, then they hit a webbed flap which they open and escape without
letting any of the fish and shrimp. We found this imformation in a
National Geographic magazine on Sea Turtles.
Rose, Ashley, And Steph
syoung@web.apc.org
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How to Respond to Challenge Question # 112 -- Environmental Impact
Statement
1. Address an e-mail message to: jn-challenge@learner.org
2. In the Subject Line of the message write: Challenge Question # 112
3. In the body of the message, answer this question:
"Write your own EIS in a letter to city officials that answers these questions: 'How will the loggerheads that nest at this beach be affected if Turtle Towers is built there? How about other living things that rely on the beach?'"
The Final Loggerhead Sea Turtle Migration Update Will Be Posted On May 15, 1996
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