“The Great Turtle Egg Evacuation” July 2, 2010

On July 12 2010, over 800 sea turtle nests in Alabama and Florida have moved from their original nesting place. Why are they being moved you ask? Well good question. Due to the oil spill along the Gulf of Mexico, organisms have been faced with a serious dilemma in their ecosystem. This oil spill has affected the population of many organisms because of the pending destruction it continues to create. So, in order to save the generation of new turtles, organizations such as the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Florida Fish and wildlife Conservation Commission have developed the Sea turtle Late Term Nest Collection and Hatchling Release Plan. With this plan roughly 70,000 eggs will be collected and shipped to the Kennedy Space Center near Orlando, Florida eventually being lead into the Atlantic Ocean.

Now from a scientific stand point moving the sea turtles eggs from their specified ecosystem to another ecosystem can be extremely risky and here is why… with this operation they plan to wait fifty days after the eggs have been laid to allow sex determination, and imprinting. Imprinting means that turtle will come back to the nest in the same location, which is important to maintain in where the eggs were originally laid. However, the risk of waiting this long is that within 12-24 hours of the turtles’ birth, embryos begin to attach to a membrane that supplies oxygen. So, when the turtles are moved separation of the membrane could occur which leads to the death of the sea turtles.

Even though the risks of this operation are sure to occur, would we rather take those risks or allow nature to take its course and allow the turtles to live in oil infested water where they’re sure to die? Both repercussions of either decision lead to a significant change in our ecosystem. Taking a species out of its habitat and placing it in to another is a tremendous change that can possibly lead to other disparities. So the question remains, are we helping our ecosystem or hindering it?