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Pacific Islands Table of Contents
Malpelo, the peak of a submarine ridge extending for 150 miles, is a gigantic rock about two miles long and approximately 850' high, anchored 314 miles west of the coast of Colombia. Eleven islets forming other peaks of the volcanic ridge are scattered around Malpelo. Due to sparse vegetation and the high humidity, the cap rock on the island heats up in the noonday sun and creates its own weather. A wispy shroud forms just above the highest points on the island. Malpelo host the world's second-largest Masked Booby nesting grounds. Several marine currents, passing the island at various times of the year, are responsible for a wide variety and abundance of marine fauna. In 1996, Malpelo and neighboring Gorgona Island were made a Colombia Fauna and Flora Sanctuary. The protected area extends six miles from the shore. What brings visitors in ever increasing numbers? It certainly could not be the scenery. The rock is magnificent but that alone wouldn't justify an overnight stop in San Jose, Costa Rica, a 2-hour road trip to Puntarenas and then a 40-hour sea voyage aboard the Undersea Hunter. The answer is more hammerheads than you can imagine! When school is in, 300 hammerheads show up for class. Columbia's recognition of the need for preservation of marine bio-diversity has now been expanded due to pressing concerns over the survival of the leatherback turtle. The 24th Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation and Biology, held the week of February 22, 2004, released a report indicating that if strong measures are not taken, the leatherback turtle, a gentle giant, weighing close to a ton and measuring eight feet in length, may be extinct within a decade in the Pacific Ocean. Since 1982, their numbers have dropped from approximately 115,000 reproductive females to fewer than 3,000 remaining today, a decline of 97 percent, the report states. Famed for its smooth, leathery skin, the leatherback has graced ocean waters from the tropics to the Arctic since the time of dinosaurs more than 100 million years ago. Roderic Mast, President of the International Sea Turtle Society said, "Sea turtles act as our warning mechanism for the health of the ocean, and what they're telling us is quite alarming. Their plummeting numbers are, unfortunately, symptomatic of the ocean as a whole." Sea turtles face threats ranging from destructive fishing practices such as long-lining and the poaching of turtle eggs, which some cultures regard as a delicacy. Long-lining is a practice in which ships extend up to 90 miles of fishing line with as many as 8,000 hooks, many of which unintentionally capture and kill sea turtles instead of their intended targets of fish. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Hammerhead Heaven in South Pacific Islands is owned by Larry Low. Permission to republish Hammerhead Heaven in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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