The findings, published today in the Ecological Society of America's scientific online journal Ecosphere, shows the future could be grim for the world's largest species of marine turtle.
"If the decline continues, within 20 years, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for the leatherback to avoid extinction," said Thane Wibbels, UAB profossor of reproductive biology.
Leatherback turtles can grow six feet long and weigh as much as 2,000 pounds. They can dive to nearly 4,000 feet and migrate thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean.
The research team documented a decline in the number of leatherback nests at Jamursba Medi Beach in Papua Barat, Indonesia from a peak of 14,455 in 1984 to a low of 1,532 in 2011.
The beach accounts for 75 percent of the leatherback's total nesting area in the western Pacific.
The researchers attributed the to the leatherback's trans-Pacific migration, which exposes them to more human fishing activity.
"They can migrate more than 7,000 miles and travel through the territories of at least 20 countries, so this is a complex international problem," said Ricardo Tapilatu, the team's head scientist and a UAB graduate student.
"It is extremely difficult to comprehensively enforce fishing regulations throughout the pacific."
The team included scientists from the State University of Papua, the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Marine
Fisheries Service, and the World Wildlife Fund Indonesia.