Outdoor Conservation Book Club discussion

I'm 2 days late but hey, I only just got power back from Hurricane Ida and reality told me it'd September now somehow. SO. New month means new Outdoor Conservation Book for the book club!! We're reading Voyage of the Turtle by Carl Safina this month. It's about the Leatherback Turtle, which is the largest living turtle in the world. And while reading up about them, I learned that they are the only sea turtles without a bony shell, and instead it's made of thick leathery skin (and what their name is derived from). They're truly massive and amazing. I've seen them nesting in Pacuare, Costa Rica, when I worked on a sea turtle project conservation there for a week. It was amazing. I'm looking forward to this book and I hope you'll come read with me!! I'll share quotes and info on Twitter @flyingcypress using #OCBookOfTheMonth.

I'm halfway through but just came here to say that I really love Carl Safina's writing and storytelling style!

I finished! I give it 4 stars. I like his storytelling style and mixture of personal experience and scientific information. It makes it more engaging, I find. I learned a lot about Leatherbacks, and about how the Atlantic vs Pacific populations differ and have different challenges now. There's a section late in the book where he goes on a research trip that has an underwater ROV and I liked reading about all the creatures they saw, and learning more about krill. We're reading a book all about krill in a few months so I'm interested to get to it! Anyway I really enjoyed this book, and my main takeaways are we need to modify fishing techniques/fleet sizes so that less turtles and other species are captured/killed, and we need to also protect nesting beaches. It does no good to save the baby turtles if they're just going to get killed in the ocean. And it does no good to save all the adults if they have nowhere to nest. We have to do both parts, and we know how, we just have to do it. It sounds like progress has been made, especially in the Atlantic, and that scientists are learning more about the Pacific population that will help them protect that population as well.