How a man’s passion is saving sea turtles, one at a time
Frederick Yeh is a man on a mission. Shocked and saddened to see that there are far fewer turtles in his hometown than there had been in his youth, he started China’s only non-profit organisation specifically to help save the sea turtles.
Sea Turtles 911, Yeh’s foundation, is deliberately located in the small floating fishing village of Lingshui, on Hainan island, China.
Although the sea turtle trade is illegal, both in China and around the world, all parts of the sea turtle can fetch high prices on the black market. This makes selling sea turtles a very tempting and lucrative option that has decimated their populations.
Unfortunately Hainan is home to most of the world’s illegal sea turtle catches and trade. Yeh hopes that by locating his foundation here on the island, he will be able to increase awareness of the turtles’ plight among the fishers and local people.
Since the foundation started in 2008, Sea Turtle 911 has rescued 273 sea turtles, rehabilitating and releasing 238 of them. These endangered animals aren’t just hurt by fishing. Many can be badly injured due to polluted water or by the plastic bags they swallow, mistaking the bags for their favourite food, jellyfish.
But Yeh wants Sea Turtles 911 to be more than just a rescue mission. He wants to show the public how the disappearance of the sea turtles affects the environment. He explains:
“Turtles are like underwater lawnmowers: they eat sea grass (which helps the sea grass to stay healthy and grow). If the sea grass isn’t there, it produces less oxygen, which leads to less fish.”
To this end, Yeh also conducts classes at a sea turtle sanctuary located in a high-end resort in Sanya, Hainan’s capital. The hotel has a special pool just for rehabilitating sea turtles.
“It’s like a mini hotel for turtles,” said the resort’s manager.
Yeh regularly shows these sea turtles to children staying at the resort. Many of the children are from cities in China and few have ever seen sea turtles before.
Yeh’s wish is that this personal encounter with the sea turtles will stick with the children for a long time, so that when they become adults, they know better than to order sea turtle soup at a restaurant.
To read more about the sea turtles, click here and here.
All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)
