The leatherback sea turtle, the largest sea turtle on earth (that apparently can grow to the size of a small car) has no shell. Instead, it has only skin for protection.
The leatherbacks are endangered by fishing apparatus, desalination plants, offshore drilling operations and of course, plastic pollution.
The Obama administration has done their part to protect over 40,000 miles off the California coast as “critical habitat” for the species, which has declined 95 percent in the past 30 years.
Let’s do our part, both by encouraging this massively positive legislation and by continuing to reduce our consumption of single-use plastic, which still finds its way into the turtles’ critical habitat.
Read more about Protection for Fragile Sea Turtles in the Mercury News.
