Sea Turtle Restoration Project www.SeaTurtles.org Movie Study Guide

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A Study Guide to

Turtle: The Incredible Journey  

  Film Synopsis Directed by Nick Stringer (England, 2009) 81 minutes – in English Recommended for all ages This awe-inspiring nature film follows the personal story of a little loggerhead turtle, as she follows the path of her ancestors on one of the most extraordinary journeys in the natural world. Born on a beach in Florida, the young turtle’s first test comes as she narrowly escapes a mob of threatening crabs and scurries off into the waves. Her life in the ocean begins with a ride on the Gulf Stream up toward the Arctic and ultimately around the entire North Atlantic across to Africa. On her journey, the loggerhead meets an assortment of creatures, from stingrays to whales, and even other sea turtles. But the turtle’s greatest foe is revealed to be not a razor-toothed shark or poisonous jellyfish, but floating bits of trash, oil-slicked waters, longline fishing and other manmade obstacles. After 25 years have passed, the turtle’s calling comes and she must return to the same beach where she was born. On a sandy beach in Florida, under a starry sky, the loggerhead crawls out of the sea to lay her own eggs and keep the Turtle’s journey alive!

Sea Turtle Restoration Project www.SeaTurtles.org Movie Study Guide

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Questions for Post-Film Discussion

1. The director chose to teach you about the journey that all loggerhead sea turtles make from the perspective of just one particular turtle. Why do you think this choice was made?

2. How would the film have been different if the director had focused on many turtles rather than just one? Did it make the story more powerful?

3. What effect did the narration have on the way you viewed the turtle? Did it

make you feel like the turtle had a personality although sea turtles can’t laugh, smile, cry, or speak?

4. Did Turtle: The Incredible Journey seem like you were being told a story or

was it more like a scientific film?

5. What did you learn about loggerhead sea turtles that you did not know before?

6. What obstacles does this sea turtle face on its way from the nest to the

ocean? Do you believe that all species of sea turtles face the same obstacles?

7. What obstacles does this sea turtle face once it is in the ocean? Do you

think all species of sea turtles face the same obstacles in the ocean?

8. Why would the BP gulf oil spill create more danger for loggerhead turtles than other turtles?

9. Did the film make you want to help the turtles? Do you think this is an

emotion the director wanted you to have?

10. Could you relate to the sea turtle and her incredible journey? Notes: __________________________________________________________

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Sea Turtle Restoration Project www.SeaTurtles.org Movie Study Guide

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Additional Information:

Loggerheads, Shrimp Trawls, and Turtle Excluder Devices

As we learned in the film, fishermen can accidentally catch sea turtles. When a turtle or any other animal is caught unintentionally by fishermen, it’s called bycatch. Loggerheads are especially at risk of becoming bycatch in trawl nets that are used to fish for shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico. If a turtle does become trapped in a trawl net, it can become entangled in the net, get injured and even drown since it can’t surface for air. How does a shrimp trawl net work? As the poster on the next page describes, a shrimp trawl is a large net with heavy weights on the bottom. The net is dragged across the ocean floor and catches everything in its path, including loggerhead sea turtles. There are two kinds of trawl nets: otter trawls and skimmer trawls. Otter trawls consist of a shrimping boat towing one large net in deep water. Skimmer trawls are composed of two smaller nets that are towed by a shrimping boat in shallow water. Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) A Turtle Excluder Device, or TED, is a grid of bars attached to a shrimp trawl net. The bars are wide enough apart that shrimp simply swim in between them and into the back of the net where they are trapped. But sea turtles are too big to pass through the bars. So, when a turtle hits the bars, they release to reveal an opening in the net that allows the turtle to escape. When properly fitted onto the net, TEDs are effective at reducing sea turtle bycatch without significantly reducing the quantity of shrimp caught. Because TEDs are effective at saving turtles, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) requires them to be installed on otter trawls. However, skimmer trawls are not required to have TEDs. As a result, sea turtles continue to get caught and die in skimmer trawls. So many turtles continue to die that at nesting beaches in Florida, loggerhead populations decreased by 40% from 1998 to 2009. An estimate from NMFS says that in 2009, South East Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico shrimpers killed 5,365 sea turtles; at least 778 of these were Atlantic loggerheads. Organizations like the Sea Turtle Restoration Project are trying to gain support from the public and help pass laws requiring TEDs to be on all shrimp trawls, and not only on otter trawls.

Sea Turtle Restoration Project www.SeaTurtles.org Movie Study Guide

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Sea Turtle Restoration Project www.SeaTurtles.org Movie Study Guide

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Post-viewing Activity

From the film we learned that pollution is dangerous not only to sea turtles, but to all animals. Here is an activity you and your kids can do to help reduce the amount of trash near where you live:

1. Each day this week, have your kids go out after school to a local beach, park, or the schoolyard and keep it clean by picking up garbage on the ground.

2. Before throwing the trash away, make sure your kids identify each piece of garbage and have them keep a record of what kind of items they find.

3. At the end of the week, try to figure out what kinds of trash were most common. Was it plastic bags? Pieces of paper? Food wrappers? Or something else?

4. If one of the common items is something your family frequently uses, try to come up with ways to reduce your usage of that item.

5. Spread the word! Tell your family, friends, and neighbors about your week-long project so that they will also help keep our environment clean!

6. If you have any questions at any time about sea turtles or ocean pollution, visit the Sea Turtle Restoration Project’s website (www.SeaTurtles.org) or contact STRP at (415) 663-8590.

Additional Resources Books

• Sea Turtles by Gail Gibbons – this particular book is made for children and includes sea turtle anatomy

• Sea Turtles: A Complete Guide to their Biology, Behavior, and Conservation by James R. Spotila

Websites

• Sea Turtle Restoration Project: www.SeaTurtles.org • Sea Turtle Restoration Project on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sea-Turtle-Restoration-Project/199010435394

• Saving Sea Turtles from Fisheries: http://seaturtles.org/section.php?id=39 • Gulf of Mexico Shrimping: http://seaturtles.org/article.php?id=1924 • Turtles and the BP Gulf Oil Spill: http://seaturtles.org/section.php?id=147 • Climate Change and Sea Turtles: http://seaturtles.org/section.php?id=135 • Bag the Plastics Campaign: http://seaturtles.org/section.php?id=126 • Turtle Island Restoration Network: www.tirn.net • National Marine Fisheries Service: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ • Turtle Excluder Devices:

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/turtles/teds.htm • Sea Turtle Conservancy: http://www.conserveturtles.org/