A leatherback turtle has been tracked searching for food over an incredible 13,000 miles, raising the alarm over the plight of the endangered species.The turtle swam from Indonesia to the U.S. in its hazardous migratory odyssey.The species, which at up to 9ft long is the largest sea reptile and has been around for 100 million years, is the most endangered turtle in the oceans.Researchers now fear that unless action is taken the turtles face extinction because over-fishing is making their habitat too dangerous for them.
"Migrations of this magnitude expose animals to a multitude of risks from fisheries on the high seas," said marine scientists Scott Benson and Peter Dutton in a report.
Speaking today, Mr Benson estimated that fewer than 5,000 adult females now live in the Pacific region, though males cannot be easily counted because they do not come ashore.Conservationists estimate the breed could become extinct within 30 years, he said.
Turtles "face a myriad of risks from things like ingesting debris like plastic, to travelling through areas that are used by multinational fisheries - fisheries that would catch them in the course of trying to catch fish," Mr Benson said.
He and Mr Dutton, who work for the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service in California, went to Indonesia in 2001 to track turtles using satellite transmitters.
Their research showed the animals ranged from the South China Sea to the Sea of Japan to the North Pacific.
One adult female began her journey in 2003 on a nesting beach in Jamursbamedi in Indonesia's Papua province, Mr Benson said.The scientists tracked her during her hunt for food for 647 days until the transmitter's battery ran out just off Hawaii. During her travels she swam as far north as the U.S. west coast state of Oregon.
The voyage was so long because food scarcity forced the turtle to move on from one feeding area to another."It's the old adage of not putting all your eggs in one basket," Mr Benson said. "If a foraging ground was bad one year, maybe another foraging ground would be good. Some portion of the population would always be able to find food."
In their report - in journal Chelonian Conservation and Biology - they said: "Effective conservation requires a better understanding of migratory routes and destinations to understand and mitigate the risks at sea."Today Mr Benson called for action to protect leatherback turtles as they roam the seas.
"It will be the responsibility of many countries to ensure the species survives in the Pacific Ocean for future generations," he said. "It's an animal that doesn't recognize international boundaries. You can protect the nesting beaches but if you can't protect the animal in the water, you haven't done anything."
Peter C. H. Pritchard, a turtle expert and director of the Chelonian Research Institute in Florida, said he wasn't surprised to learn how far the turtle travelled."It's possible and only limited by the geography of the world," he said today."This is a powerful fishing machine and remarkable diving machine."
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