By jhjanicki
on Monday,August 14th, 2017
in Art, Awareness, Conservation, Fisheries, Ghost nets, Marine Debris, Wildlife Trade,
The Sea Turtle Art Show that took place at the Okinawa Brewing Mihama Cafe on August 12, 2017, was an extremely great success! A huge thanks to everyone who made it happen! Organizers: Julia Janicki & Hazel Cruzado Art Artists: Hazel Cruzado Art, Art Leo, Shawn Miller (Okinawa Nature Photography), Pete Leong (Foto Shisa), Rodel […]
By jhjanicki
on Sunday,June 4th, 2017
in Awareness, Conservation, Injuries, Research,
Recreational diving has the potential to both positively or negatively affect sea turtles and other marine life, and the awareness of the diver may play an important role. An example where sea turtles can be negatively impacted by diving is boat strikes. At the International Sea Turtle Symposium 2017, there was a particularly interesting study […]
By jhjanicki
on Monday,May 8th, 2017
in Awareness, Conservation, Fisheries, Ghost nets,
Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles are accidentally caught in shrimp trawl nets, on longline hooks and in fishing gill nets every year. They become bycatch, non-targeted species, and is usually returned to the sea as discards, typically dead or injured to an extent that death is most likely. A simple action that seafood consumers […]
By jhjanicki
on Sunday,March 5th, 2017
in Awareness, Conservation, Ghost nets,
The expansion of fishing activities in the ocean has contributed to the decline of some sea turtle populations. Sea turtles, among other creatures, can become entangled in gillnets (see video here), pound nets, purse seines (see video here) the lines associated with longline fishing (see video here) as well as traps and pots (see video […]
By jhjanicki
on Monday,January 30th, 2017
in Awareness, Conservation, Ghost nets,
This new art piece created by the Okinawa-based artist Hazel Cruzado depicts a sea turtle entangled in a ghost net. Ghost nets are abandoned or discarded fishing nets, they can float in ocean currents for years or decades, traveling huge distances. Every year millions of marine animals including turtles, birds, sharks, rays, dugongs, dolphins, and […]
By jhjanicki
on Friday,January 27th, 2017
in Awareness, Conservation, Research,
When a species is so widely distributed, how do you determine the most vulnerable areas where conservation efforts should be prioritized? For some wide-ranging species, it is difficult to determine conservation priorities on a species level, instead individual populations should be the basic unit for assessment. Sea turtles are one such creatures, they also exhibit […]
By jhjanicki
on Tuesday,December 6th, 2016
in Awareness, Conservation, Research,
Green sea turtles nest on beaches across Okinawa, including mainland Okinawa and the surrounding islands such as Zamami and Kumejima. Nest sites selected by mother turtles are most often on the backshore that has uneven beach topography and permanently vegetated areas. Approximately two months after nesting, the hatchlings emerge from their nests in a frenzy […]
By jhjanicki
on Wednesday,November 16th, 2016
in Awareness, Biology, Conservation, Marine Debris,
There has been two recent events related to objects stuck in the nostrils of sea turtles which are the product of accumulating plastic debris in the ocean, specifically in the waters of northwest Costa Rica. One is where a straw was stuck in the nostril of an Olive Ridley sea turtle (Robinson & Figgener 2015) […]
By jhjanicki
on Monday,October 24th, 2016
in Announcement, Awareness, Conservation,
On October 22, 2016, as part of a series of talks related to the natural monuments of Okinawa (沖縄の天然記念物シーリズ講演), Dr. Kawazu from the Churaumi Research Center gave a presentation about sea turtles in Okinawa. Specifically, he talked about sea turtle nesting in Japan, the six species of sea turtles that are found in Okinawa and […]
By jhjanicki
on Friday,October 7th, 2016
in Awareness, Conservation, Marine Debris, Research,
Marine debris is mostly made up of plastic. We have over 5.25 trillion particles of plastic in our oceans. Marine animals suffer tremendously from our increased consumption of non-biodegradable plastic and the various practices we undertake. For example, offshore garbage dumping by ships at sea was legal until the 1980s. Massive balloon launches is also […]