Sea turtles in danger! - worksheet February 2013

ARCHELON, The Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece www.archelon.gr © ARCHELON 2008 and 2013

Sea turtles in danger! A person who was a friend of sea turtles found one on the beach. It was in trouble! Its carapace was broken, and a piece of fishing line was coming out of its mouth! With the help of the local port police, the turtle was sent to the ARCHELON Sea Turtle Rescue Centre in Glyfada. What had happened to it? To find out, complete the text below. The pictures and the words in the box will help you. 2 Complete the story below. Use the words from Exercise 1. Aloma, a (1) ..................................... , was hungry! She had been swimming for many

days, but she couldn’t find a (2) ..................................... , or a (3) ..........................

or seaweed, or other slow-moving sea creatures to eat. The sea seemed to be empty!

Ever since so many large (4) ..................................... were around, it was harder

and harder for Aloma to find food.

The only thing that Aloma found were floating plastic bags and rubbish, and one day she

ate a plastic by mistake because she thought it was one of her favourite foods, a (5)

..................................... . She ate a lot of them and became ill. She floated for days,

unable to swim because she was very weak and ill. One day, she heard a very fast boat

coming towards her very fast, but she didn’t have time to get out of the way. It hit her

and broke her (6) ..................................... .

Because sea turtles and other sea creatures cannot find enough food, they often

become entangled in (7) ................................... , or eat (8) ...............................

together with the bait which fishermen use to catch fish.

To learn how turtles like Aloma are treated at the ARCHELON Rescue Centre, how you can visit the Centre and see the turtles, and what you can do to help an injured sea turtle, visit the ARCHELON website www.archelon.gr . Sea Turtles are in danger! Every year in Greece alone, thousands of sea turtles are killed or injured by fishing equipment. To help them, friends of sea turtles suggest that fisherman use special hooks which do not harm sea turtles, that fisherman do not fish close to the shore and, especially in the summer, do not fish close to the nesting beaches which migrating turtles use. Last but not least, fishermen should obey the local and international laws which protect the seas.

carapace crab fish hooks fishing boats fishing nets

jellyfish sea turtle sea urchin