Abstract:
Five of the seven living sea turtle species are reported in Sri Lanka. The main
objective of this study is to investigate the impact of decreasing the number of
sea turtle inhabitants in Sri Lanka due to the rapid growth of civilization and
anthropogenic activities. The deterioration of the sea turtle population has
been examined using the total number of eggs, number of dead eggs, number
of living hatchlings, and number of dead hatchlings. In this study, the stability
of the system of ordinary differential equations which were initially
formulated in previous literature is evaluated, and proven that the population
of sea turtles in Sri Lanka may decrease when both prey and predator coexist.
The distribution analysis of the total number of eggs proves that the prime
nesting season in Sri Lanka is from January to June and November to
December. Based on the statistical analysis it proves that a significant
difference exists (P < 0.05) and nesting in each destination has decreased
throughout the years. The Lefkovitch matrix proves that the reduction of the
number of green sea turtles, hawksbill, and olive ridley sea turtles will happen
in Sri Lanka within 12,15, and 24 years respectively. By examining the matrix
model’s sensitivity analysis, the present study proposes to head start
conservation by protecting the juvenile sea turtle population to prevent the
reduction of sea turtle inhabitants in Sri Lanka. Therefore, conducting
awareness programs, and declaration of protected areas strictly following and
implementing existing laws are recommended for their conservation.
