Packing her house on her back, Arenita — one gorgeous lady — cruises
through the Pacific Ocean on her way to somewhere.

In honor of Earth Day The Mountain Times is sponsoring Arenita, a threatened
olive ridley sea turtle.

She was fitted with a migration satellite transmitter in August while nesting on
Las Bocanitas Beach, El Salvador.

When properly attached to their shells, the transmitters do not harm the
turtles and will eventually drop off after about a year. Arenita is one of eight
turtles who are currently being monitored in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans by
the Florida-based Caribbean Conservation Corporation (cccturtle.org.)
Sea turtles are the ocean’s housekeepers. They eat sea grass — which is
rather like lawn grass except it needs to be trimmed. These beds are breeding
grounds for many species of fish, shellfish and crustaceans, but without the
sea grass many would not survive.

Over the past decade there has been a sharp decline in sea grass beds and it
is believed this may be linked to the lower numbers of sea turtles.

Millions of sea turtles once roamed the oceans, but now only a fraction
remain. Illegal harvesting of turtles for consumption and their shells for
jewelry still continues, and thousands are trapped in trawl nets or killed or
injured by longlines, leading to their decline.

Marine pollution from oil spills, chemicals and petroleum products also affect
sea turtles. All are endangered.

The MT is proud to have Arenita as part of the community family. An update
will be provided each month as to where she is. At press time she had
traveled nearly 3,000 miles since leaving El Salvador and is about 700 miles
southwest of Acapulco.

Her fascinating travels can be tracked by clicking on:
http://www.cccturtle.org/satellitetrackingmap.php?page=sat-elsal_arenita.

(Data © CCC)