Hi! Welcome to the first cache in a ten part geocache series called Turtle Trek. On your quest to find all 10 caches, you will learn all about sea turtles and the dangers they face. Each cache in this series will highlight a different battle turtles must fight on their quest for survival. Enjoy!
If a large offshore spill releases oil into the open ocean, currents and winds can carry oil across all the habitats where sea turtles are found—and into the potential path of sea turtles of every age—as it makes its way to shore.
A major reason sea turtles can be particularly vulnerable to ocean oil spills is simply because they breathe air. Even though sea turtles can hold their breath on dives for extended periods of time, they usually come to the surface to breathe several times an hour. Because most oils float, sea turtles can surface into large oil slicks repeatedly.
The situation can be even worse for very young sea turtles living among floating sargassum patches, as these small turtles almost never leave the top few feet of water, increasing their exposure to a floating oil slick. Furthermore, ocean currents and winds often bring oil to the same oceanic convergence zones that bring sargassum and young sea turtles together.
When sea turtles surface in a slick, they can inhale oil and its vapors into their lungs; gulp oil into their mouths, down their throats, and into their digestive tracts while feeding; and become coated in oil, to the point of becoming entirely mired and unable to swim. Similarly, sea turtles may swim through oil drifting in the water column or disturb it in the sediments on the ocean bottom.
Female sea turtles that ingest oil can even pass oil compounds on to their developing young, and once laid, the eggs can absorb oil components in the sand through the eggshell, potentially damaging the baby turtle developing inside. Nesting turtles and their hatchlings are also likely to crawl into oil on contaminated beaches.
Unfortunately, areas of oil and gas exploration, transportation, and processing often overlap with important sea turtle habitats, including U.S. waters off the Florida and Texas coasts and throughout the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. Areas of oil and gas exploration, transportation, and processing often overlap with important sea turtle habitats. Sea turtles have been at risk of exposure in many oil spills, particularly in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Most reports of sea turtle impacts are from Florida or the Caribbean. In addition, a spill that occurs miles from nesting beaches or feeding grounds, such as seagrass beds and reefs, can impact these areas and sea turtles as ocean currents move the oil, generally towards the coast.
About this cache:
This should be an easy P&G. When the city moved some of the informational signs, the cache had to be moved. It is close to the original location. So this is Oil SpillsTake 2.....
Please stay off the dunes and remember, Cache in Trash OUT. There is a handy dandy trash receptacle near the cache.