Hello all and welcome to Turtle Soup's FOO (Fact or Opinion) Page. Basically I like to deal with FACTS or evidence to support a fact. See my Wake-up page for a more opinionated view.
Let's start with the Loggerhead Sea Turtle. These large, exquisite sea turtles are considered an endangered species by the Federal Government. Unfortunately, for the turtles, third-world countries use turtles like we use cattle. This combined with sea nets, pollution and the low survival rate (Loggerheads are at about 5%) have caused the Worldwide sea turtle population to diminish enough to warrant their endangered species rating by our government. I agree this process must be waned, but doing it at a County or State level will have no affect on the world wide sea turtle population. Click here for more info
Now let's take a technical point of view on the Sea Turtle problem. "Over 80% of sea turtles nesting in the United States come to our Florida coast line. " (quoted from www.energywave.com/FLATURT.HTM) . I find this hard to believe, what about Texas, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, etc? Let's just say this statement is a FACT (even though it ain't). This 80% then would randomly approach the beaches in Florida to lay their eggs. Obviously, this 80% does not specifically seek out Volusia County, they could end up in Dade County, Brevard County, even in the Keys. There is approximately 1,700 miles of Sea Turtle inhabitable beaches in Florida. Let's just say, for the sake of reasoning, Loggerheads prefer the central and south Florida beaches most. I will estimate that the total available sea turtle inhabitable beaches to be about 1,000 miles. Volusia County is "25 miles" (quoted from turtlepatrol.8m.com) , which is a very, very small percentage of the available nesting beaches in Florida. You do the math, does the percentage of nesting Loggerhead Sea Turtles in Volusia County even reach double digits. Mathematically, there is no feasible equation that would support the Marshall led propaganda spew that stopping US citizens from driving on Volusia County beaches will increase the Loggerhead sea turtle population. I defy anyone to show me a mathematical equation to prove the Marshall's right.
Despite all of their efforts, the Sea Turtle Patrol still lost 17% of the total nests, was this done by cars, lights, poaching? No, see below.
Despite an otherwise fruitful nesting season, 3 successive hurricanes
took their toll on Sea Turtles in Volusia County.
A reported 391 nests, or 17% of the total were lost. (quoted
from turtlepatrol.8m.com)
So the biggest killer was Mother Nature, as it always is. Maybe we should look into prosecuting Mother Nature and prevent her from driving any hurricanes into Volusia County.
Another fact is that Florida is but a small piece of this planet. There are hundreds of thousands of miles of coastline on this earth, and Loggerheads are located all over the world. I have lived in Hawaii, and I have seen Loggerheads come right up to Waikiki Beach. Loggerheads are located all over Indonesia and the Philippines, and don't even get me started about Costa Rica. Of all the available beaches that house Loggerheads, Volusia County is not even 1%.
Here's my favorite part of this whole deal. These groups, such as the Sea Turtle Patrol, consider themselves environmentalists. By filing the proper papers, the US government gladly hands out supplements to these so-called environmentalist's. In other words, your tax money and mine go to these groups to support their cause. Not only that, we bought them all new vehicles and ATV's, and now they are asking for donations. This makes me sick, this money should be spent on our children and crime stoppage plans. How many human lives would the millions spent on this Sea Turtle Madness have saved? The USA needs to know that these "environmentalists" are all over the United States.
The Marshall's say they are environmentalists. The Marshall's live in a nice Beachside house, on a flattened sand dune. How many animals lost their homes, or even their lives, to provide the Marshall's a home. The Marshall's drive vehicles, and ATV's on the beach, just like everyone else (hint: what about a bike). The Marshall's are no "environmentalists," they are only interested in their own personal gain. The only true environmentalist I know of is Tarzan, and the Sea Patrol is not anywhere near that.
The Sea Turtle Patrol recently stated "1999 was a record nesting season in Volusia County. We had a total of 2,272 nests, the highest number documented since monitoring was begun in 1979." (quoted from turtlepatrol.8m.com) 1979? The Sea Turtle Patrol was started around 1995. 2,272 nests? What were they hidden? I surf, fish and boat every day/week/month all over Volusia County, and I saw maybe 20 last year. I also approached beach Tollbooth collectors and all gave me the "gape jaw" when I said there was 2,272 nests, so did I. But this could be a good thing. If the Loggerheads have another couple of good years, maybe they might be removed off of the endangered list. Then what? Volusia County needs to make a plan now to implement a process to return to full driving privileges on the beach.
If you really think about it, the Marshall's are in a lose lose situation.
If your reading this, thanks for taking the time to read these articles.