The turtles of Mona Island.

• Author: Wild, Russell
• Position: A Regina's accident and salvage problems

THE TURTLES OF MONA ISLAND

On the night of February 15, 1985, ata few minutes past midnight, all hell broke loose on Mona Island, the last sanctuary of one of the world's most endangered sea turtles. A 3,900-ton, 330-foot ferry, midway on its usual seven-hour journey from Puerto Rico to the Dominican Republic, slammed into the coral reef off the island. It was a calm night, but the ship had veered several hundred yards off course. Authorities mumble about Captain Ascensio Bessone's moderate case of bronchitis by way of explanation.

None of the ferry's 200 passengers and crewwas injured in the accident, and by the next morning, the A. Regina had been abandoned in the surf. Two years later, most of the ship is still breaking up on the reef, and its boards, beams, sofas, curtains, carpets, lamps, and cables continue to wash up on Mona Island's beach.

The A. Regina should have been moved immediatelyby its owners, but it wasn't. Because the island is the primary nesting ground of an endangered species protected under our Endangered Species Act, the federal government should then have moved it. But it didn't. It wasn't as if jobs or an important dam had to be sacrificed to help the turtles. The ferry just had to be moved.

But as the wreck has crumbled and becomemore difficult--and more expensive--to move, the owners, their insurance company, and the various federal agencies that are supposed to protect the turtles have become more adamant about refusing responsibility for the problem.

Saran Wrap for breakfast

Not that the turtles needed any more trouble. Theirchances under ordinary circumstances of making it to maturity are about one in a thousand. As embryonic reptillettes in ping pong balls of shells nestled under the hot sand, plenty of unhatched sea turtles are gobbled up by beach-combing pigs and raccoons. If the turtles hatch, they join other survivors in a frantic several-hundred-yard waddle to the water, along which many will be scarfed up by the dogs, birds, and crabs. Once at sea, they face larger, uglier predators. It will be several years before their shells harden enough to protect them and before their bulk won't fit through the widest jaws.

But they're never safe from human predators. Babyturtles wind up in curio shops encased in plastic, "Costa Rica" emblazoned on their bellies. Big turtles wind up in shrimp nets, as tortoise shell combs, or as soup.

If humans don't catch the turtles, humandetritus still plagues the creatures. A yummy-looking jellyfish, for instance, might actually be a hunk of floating Saran Wrap or a six-pack ring, either of which can clog a turtle's windpipe or permanently lodge in its stomach. Turtles can't see well enough and, anyway, aren't bright enough, to know the difference.

Overhunting, pollution, and the destruction oftheir habitat has led to the rapid decline...