Mar 12 (Pen Men at Work): The Georgian Loggerhead turtle has been lifted into the list from ‘Threatened’ to ‘Endangered’ species. After Georgia listed it as endangered a few times back, this time it’s the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service who have jointly tagged this turtle as so.

According to Kris Williams, who has been studying them on Wassaw Island since a dozen years, the Loggerhead has declain its population drastically in last seven to nine years and the beaches need to get more protection for this species. A Florida study also mentions that surfers and relax boaters also strike in 30 percent of loggerhead crisis.

Williams, who is also the director of the Caretta Research Project adds that the Loggerhead is an indicator species which provides information about human encroachment into the seas. While as Mark Dodd, coordinator of the Georgia sea turtle project, provides the warning indication of human activities in disrupting the smooth ecology of oceans.

With only 997 loggerhead nests counted on Georgia beaches in the last year, the decline of sea turtle population is clearly visible, says the Turtle Island Restoration Network. While the Center for Biological Diversity is working on the restriction bill for hunters and egg collectors of the developing country’s ocean, it has also filled a petition to save this particular species in last 2007.

Loggerheads live a long life of more than 50 years, and travel thousands of miles through the ocean to give birth.