Happy Earth Day!

Have a wonderful Earth Day 2013!

How can you help sea turtles?

1. Give up unsustainable seafood. 
• If you don't know where it comes from and how it was caught, then don't eat it. Simple, right? 
• Shrimp, for example, often are fished in unsustainable ways that drown or harm sea turtles. 
• That tuna sushi that you love might have come from a fishing boat using longline fishing, which kills lots of wildlife. And if you're eating bluefin tuna, you might be eating an endangered species!
2. Give up single-use plastic.
• Bring your own reusable bag when shopping and say no to plastic bags.
• Bring your own water bottle instead of buying bottled water.
• Skip the straw or bring your own instead of using plastic straws.
3. Drive less.
• Really? Yes, the less you drive or do other things that generate carbon pollution, the more that you help reduce the problem of climate change, which is a serious threat to our oceans and sea turtles.
• As an alternative, relax on public transportation, walk, or enjoy a fun bike ride to your destination.
4. Enjoy sea turtles from a distance.
• If you're lucky enough to see a sea turtle in the wild, then don't bother it. Just enjoy it from a distance and let it enjoy its day.

Don't forget that World Oceans Day is coming on June 8!

Mahalo Nui Loa from Honu.Org

Donate $10 for Turtles to reach our $2010 goal!

Aloha!

We are wrapping up the year and asking you to please help us make 2010 a success. Please click the link below and donate $10 or more to Honu.Org by January 20, 2010.

Please make our $10 for Turtles in 2010 campaign a success by sharing this link with your friends and family. We need your help to raise $2010 that will support expansion of our sea turtle education and advocacy efforts.

Please help us if you can spare $10 for turtles!

Mahalo nui loa!

Oppose increased Hawaii swordfish longline fishing that endangers sea turtles by 5/18

If you have not already, please submit your opposition online to increased Hawaii swordfish longline fishing that harms sea turtles by May 18 by clicking: http://ow.ly/58tg

Federal regulations are proposed that would increase the longline fishery for swordfish in Hawai'i. This unnecessary increasing in catching toxic swordfish will further threaten endangered leatherback sea turtles,whose Pacific populations collapsed to less than 10 percent during the 1980s and 1990s, and loggerhead sea turtles.

Please tell the federal government that even a few injured or killed leatherbacks and loggerhead sea turtles is too many when these populations are so endangered. The current plan could triple the number of deaths if it is not stopped and further risk sea turtle extinction in the Pacific.

Swordfish is known to contain high levels methylmercury (a neurotoxin that should be avoided) and other contaminants because they bioaccumulate ocean toxins brought up the food chain. Some restaurants will not even serve swordfish anymore because of tumors in the tissue and concerns about its health effects. The question is why risk harming critically endangered sea turtles to put poison on your plate?

Please act by May 18 with your comments to tell the federal government to that we cannot risk sea turtles for increased swordfish catches. Swordfish, along with many top ocean predators, have also declined dramatically and should be protected from overfishing, too.

Thank you for your support of sustainable oceans!

Please also join us in our 10 for Turtles Campaign! In honor of World Turtle Day on May 23, we are asking Twitter users to donate $10 or any amount to help Honu.Org in our advocacy efforts.

Simply go to http://www.honu.org, then click on the link at the top for a quick and secure donation. Please follow us on Twitter while you are at it: http://twitter.com/honu to get our updates.

Thank you again! Mahalo!

World Ocean Day Events in San Francisco and Marin

Please help spread the word:
http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/eli@oceanhealth.org/oceandaysf

Invite your friends to this free event!

Friday, 08 June 2007
The Gallery Lounge
510 Brannan Street
San Francisco, California 94107
(415) 227-0449
www.thegallerylounge.net

8:00pm - 11:00pm:
Preview Ocean related films and meet several leaders in the Ocean Conservation community including filmmakers, marine biologists, and other notable guests of honor at the Gallery Lounge, a cocktail lounge and art gallery located in the SOMA district near downtown San Francisco at Brannan and 4th Streets (across from the Bank of America).

Saturday, 09 June 2007
The Lark Theater
549 Magnolia Avenue
Larkspur, California 94939
(415) 924-5111
www.larktheater.net

12:00pm - 4:00pm:
Join us for the screenings of several Ocean related films, including Sharks: Stewards of the Reef, and other short films like Thank You Ocean. You'll have an opportunity to meet some of the filmmakers in attendance, and learn more about how you can help.

The Lark is a non-profit historical single screen theater built in 1936, and shows first run and independent films.

These events are brought to you by COARE, Oceanhealth.org, Ocean Revolution, Sharks: Stewards of the Reef, San Francisco Surfrider Foundation, The Marine Mammal Center, The Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary

To learn more about World Ocean Day, or to find events in other areas, please visit www.worldoceanday.org

May 18, Endangered Species Day

Today is Endangered Species Day and a great time to remember the endangered sea turtles of the world, especially the leatherback and loggerhead sea turtles.

Too busy to learn more or too broke to donate to help? Well, this weekend, give up shrimp, tuna, swordfish, and shark because fishing for those seafood options leads to many turtle deaths each year. So how about giving them up if only for the weekend?

Urgent: Ask Costa Rica to Protect the Leatherback Turtle National Marine Park

http://redtortugasmarinascr.org/_mgxroot/page_10731.html

Before Thursday, April 19, please go to the website above and send your e-mail asking Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sánchez to protect nesting sea turtles.

The Leatherback Turtle National Marine Park in Costa Rica is threatened by tourism development and needs protection so that the last foothold of the leatherback nesting beaches can be preserved to help the critically endangered sea turtles.

Please learn more and respond today. You can help save sea turtles, too!
http://redtortugasmarinascr.org/_mgxroot/page_10731.html

The Great Turtle Race on the Colbert Report

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/?lnk=v&ml_video=85100

The Great Turtle Race - Leatherback Sea Turtles Race for their Lives!

Yahoo and other groups are sponsoring "The Great Turtle Race" to raise awareness about the critically endangered leatherback sea turtles in the Pacific Ocean.

http://www.greatturtlerace.com/

Although leatherbacks have existed for a 100 million years, they may go extinct in the next 10 years. Do your part to learn more and take action to protect sea turtles from extinction.

Leatherbacks will be released from Costa Rica and head to the Galapagos Islands. Learn about their fatastic voyage the perils they face in the oceans.

Habitat destruction by beach development, consumption of sea turtles and their eggs, ocean pollution that kills, and wasteful fishing techniques are all causing the rapid decline of leatherback sea turtles and other wildlife.

You can help save sea turtles no matter where you are by avoiding seafood that is caught by destructive fishing methods, such as longline fishing and drift gillnet fishing. Tuna, swordfish, and shark - all declining in numbers as well - are often caught by methods that kill or injure other wildlife. Do your part and learn about sustainable seafood alternatives or skip seafood altogether.

Ask the Vatican to End Sea Turtle Consumption During Lent

The great people at Pro Peninsula are organizing a campaign to ask the Pope and the Vatican to encourage Catholics to stop eating sea turtles during Lent. Please take action now to support this effort!

http://www.propeninsula.org/campaign/1/5.html

Pro Peninsula stated that an estimated 10,000 sea turtles are killed and eaten during holiday festivals each year! With so few sea turtles remaining in our oceans, it's imperative that communities find alternative foods that are healthy for the people who eat them and do not put sea turtles at risk of extinction.

New Year's Resolution to Save Sea Turtles - No tuna, swordfish, or shark!

This year make a resolution to help threatened and endangered sea turtles and other marine species by making a New Year's resolution to eliminate or reduce your consumption of tuna, swordfish, and shark. The best gift you can give the oceans - and your health - this holiday season.

Every day longline and drift gillnet fishing vessels imperil the survival of sea turtles and other marine species fishing for tuna and swordfish. Sea turtles are killed or injured when caught or hooked because these fishing methods catch many animals not the targets of the fishermen. Bycatch, as this problem is known, wastes precious marine life that is thrown overboard dead, dying, or injured.

Scientists have found that 90 percent of large predatory species, which includes tuna and swordfish, have been depleted in our oceans in just about 50 years of fishing. Recently, studies also reported that commercial fisheries may collapse by 2048 if we continue to overfish popular species. Not only are sea turtles at risk, but tuna, swordfish, and shark are threatened by industrial longline and drift gillnet fishing.

Fewer fish means more fishing to supply demand, which continues to put pressure on the dwindling numbers of sea turtles. Since 1980 alone, Pacific leatherback sea turtles and loggerhead sea turtles have fallen by 80 to 95 percent, primarily to wasteful fishing practices. In 2000, about 200,000 loggerhead sea turtles and 40,000 leatherback sea turtles were taken by pelagic longline fishing. At this rate, Pacific sea turtles may go extinct long before commercial fisheries collapse due to overfishing.

Mercury and other contaminants build up in large predatory species like tuna and swordfish, making them unhealthy for you to eat. The FDA and EPA tell women who intend to become pregnant, are currently pregnant, or nursing and children not to eat swordfish or shark ever. Additionally, women and children are warned eat less than 6 ounces of most tuna species. However, Consumer Union, which publishes Consumer Reports, advises pregnant women not to eat any canned tuna because of the danger methylmercury, a potent neurotoxin, poses to developing fetuses. Consumer Union adds that young children should minimize their canned tuna consumption. If you still want to eat up to two meals of fish per week, then find the fish that are safest for you and least dangerous for the oceans. Rule of thumb: smaller fish that do not live as long do not build up - or bioaccumulate - pollution in our oceans, making them healthier for you to eat.

Do you your part to protect sea turtles by doing nothing. Just stop eating tuna, swordfish, and shark to reduce your impact on the oceans and to help save sea turtles. That is the most important thing you can do for Pacific sea turtles in 2007.

For healthy oceans and a healthy new year, make it your New Year's resolution to give up or cut down on tuna and swordfish. The sea turtles thank you!