Turtle freed from fishing debris on Sal

If ever there was a prime example of the problems faced by marine life from fishing debris being thrown overboard or cut loose by fishermen, this is one.

The vast majority of the rubbish that we collect on the east coast of Sal is discarded fishing line and plastic items such as bottles and other containers that are used as floats by fishermen.  Turtles and other animals get entangled in this rubbish as it drifts through our oceans and without a good Samaritan to free them have little hope of surviving.

This turtle was found by chance on the rocks near Igrijinha last week as a holidaymaker called Judith passed by.  The net was entangled in her back flippers and the plastic container made it impossible for her to dive or swim, she had been thrown up on the rocks by the waves.  Fortunately Judith was able to remove the net and floats and stressed and tired the poor turtle managed to crawl across the rocks until a big wave came and took her out to sea.

 

This turtle is not our usual loggerhead which nests here, but is a juvenile Olive Ridley, a type of turtle that we don't get to see very often but is present in the sea around Sal.

Really nice work, Judith!

The season's not over yet!

The last excavation in the hatchery ended in a spectacular way when Nest 91 started hatching as soon as we arrive.  To the delight of the large crowd 38 babies spilled out of the sand, making a total of 67 hatchlings born in total (29 during the night) - an excellent success rate of 80%.

It's not over yet though, we still have around 130 nests on the beaches of Sal, on Costa Fragata and Serra Negra, so the Rangers will continue their patrols, making sure the hatchlings get to the sea safely and collecting data that will help to improve our success rate.

The last nest is on Costa Fragata and will have incubated for 57 days on the 23 December so there is a good chance of baby turtles for Christmas!

Beach clean this Sunday

Following last month's great clean on Costa Fragata, the next beach to get some attention is Serra Negra.  The rubbish in the last few weeks has got out of control, mostly from plastic and fishing net that has drifted in with the big tides, but sadly there are also several big piles of beer bottles from party goers.  facebook event

Join us if you can Sunday from 8am until some time after lunch (including some time to swim, eat, relax).  If you need help with transport just send us an email info@turtlesos.org or call 974 5020.

Fisherman tries to sell live turtle in Santa Maria

Thank goodness for the ears and eyes of friends of the project - through good luck we were able to return this juvenile turtle to the sea and save it from an unknown fate.  A local tour guide saw a quite well known man carrying the turtle around the streets of the town close to the pier, trying to sell it.  Initially he refused to give it up, but after the tour guide threatened him with the police, the turtle was handed over and finally given to two of our Rangers. 

Years ago this kind of thing was common as well as kids selling hatchlings to tourists, but now we are happy that there are many more people who want to save the turtles and will make a stand when they see wrongdoing.

Happily the turtle was fit and well (apart from a missing rear flipper which shouldn't hinder it) and the minute it was in the water it took off so fast we didn't even see it go!

Conservation efforts on Maio

The all female Maio team!

A few days in Maio earlier this week filled us with hope for a good management plan for the turtles next year.

Maio has really suffered as the forgotten island in terms of turtle conservation as, despite the City Hall's programme of monitoring & guarding turtles, there has never been a consistent and well coordinated project.  

This year the City Hall, ACCC (a study on climate change) & Natura 2000 all patrolled and collected data but there was no overall coordination in order to ensure consistent methodology.

Joao, a guard during 2011 explains his work

In the past few years the City Hall has paid guards from outlying villages to patrol the beaches and collect simple data (number of nests & tracks and number of turtles killed).  The funds for this activity comes from the DGA (General Directorate of the Environment) and this has been supplemented with training and equipment from ourselves, Natura 2000, Biosfera I and others.

Turtle nesting beach on Maio

The situation on Maio is critical, since it is believed to be the second largest nesting area in Cape Verde, but there is very little data available.  The number of turtles being killed each year on the land and in the surrounding sea is unknown but believed to be very high and the amount of nests stolen is probably the highest of any of the islands here.

To see what can be done to improve the situation, SOS Tartarugas arranged a visit which included a representative of the US Fish & Wildlife Service, a very important funder of turtle conservation in Cabo Verde.  During meetings with the City Hall and the Foundation for Biodiversity in Maio, it seems as if an overall management plan can be developed and implemented in 2012.

The salina on Maio, a very important biodiversity site

The Foundation is a very important partner for SOS since they are already well integrated in the community in Maio and will be able to coordinate and communicate with all the interested groups and individuals.

Not only will this brand new foundation work in turtle protection, but they are already deeply involved in the preservation of habitat and other species on the island.  One of the most important projects is research & conservation of the Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus.  (For more information about this important work follow this link).

The Sogei resort with the sea on the left & salina on the right

 This small bird nests on the ground following the seasonal rains and the salina on Maio is very important habitat for them.   Unfortunately for the environment, development has reached Maio and the residential/hotel development is situated in a small strip of beach between the sea on the left and the salina on the right.  The construction is going very slowly because few people have bought properties, however the impact on the birds and other wildlife has already been very serious. 

The little scrape of sand that is a nest

The Kentish Plover nests on the ground, making a tiny scrape in the sand and is extremely vulnerable to predation.  This photo shows the last remaining nest which on our visit was found to be predated.

The foundation has many difficult hurdles in their path, with not only these two species to protect, but many more and they face the prospect of the same extensive loss of habitat as here on Sal.

Click here for more photos.

Kids turn into conservationists!

It is so rewarding to see the fruits of the SOS Tartarugas programme for children.  Yesterday two young boys brought us a six week old hatchling that a friend of theirs was keeping in a water bottle in his house.  A couple of years ago it was really common to see kids walking around selling hatchling to the tourists in Santa Maria and there are still many turtles that are kept in houses (sometimes in very poor condition).

These two lovely boys from Noz Kasa had attended the workshop with Joana and had learned that it is much better to put the turtles in the sea right away.

Maria, Albert & Berta went with the kids to wish the turtles a safe journey and afterwards they received a certificate of adoption for their turtle and even got to give it a name.  They also like the Haribo reward!

Slow start but finishing strong

In June we were sitting around twiddling our thumbs waiting for the turtles to make an appearance, by August we were working flat out.  2011 has definitely been the strangest year so far.  We didn't know whether the late start would mean a late finish or whether it was just going to be a very low year.  Turns out that the turtles decided they would stick to the end date but just get really busy in August.

It's not quite over yet, but so far we have had 200 more nests than in 2008 and 50 more than in 2010.  The biggest change has been in the location of the nests - as the turtles head further north to find undisturbed beaches.

Another interesting fact is that we have had a much higher ratio of nests to tracks - 40% compared to the more usual 30%.

So far there have been 5,000 hatchlings born (2,500 in the hatchery)