National Plan for the Conservation of Marine Turtles finally approved

Almost three years after the plan was officially launched at a conference in Sal, the National Plan has been ratified by parliament and has become official.

Sónia Araújo Lopes, the Focal Point of CBD and Marine Turtle Conservation in Cape Verde, working at the Direcção Geral do Ambiente/ General Directorate of Environmental sent this email:

É com muita satisfação que lhes envio este e-mail cujo segue em anexo o B.O. de 13 de Dezembro, resolução nº 72/2010 que finalmente aprova o Plano Nacional para a Conservação das Tartrugas Marinhas em Cabo Verde - PNCTMCV.
Deveriam ser feitas algumas correcções antes de ser publicado, mas estamos satisfeito pois já está aprovado.
Continuação de um bom dia de trabalho.

It is with great satisfaction that I am sending this email with the attached Boletim Oficial of December 13, Resolution No. 72/2010 which finally approved the National Plan for the Conservation of Marine Tartrugas in Cape Verde - PNCTMCV.  Corrections should be made before publication, but we're happy because it is already approved.
Keep up the good work.

 

Some say that proper funding for this plan should follow, so let's see.

 

Kids/Hospital/Christmas

Neal aka Santa

SOS Tartarugas delivered toys and presents to kids in hospital at Christmas.

Expresso das Ilhas report
Asemana report

Newborn with cuddly toys

Janine from Agir pelo Sal

Most people who know me know that I'm not great with any of the three things in the title!  I understand dogs better than kids (sorry!), I hate germs and sickness & can't look at blood and Christmas makes me run and hide!!

Melisa (SOS Tartarugas) hands out gift

Nevertheless we were happy to help NGO Agir pelo Sal (Action for Sal) to deliver toys and clothes to the children and babies in hospital on Sal on Christmas Eve. 

The toys were kindly donated by Mike Morgan and friends in Wales Morgan Office UK. 

Thanks to all who contributed, the kids were thrilled!

The last few nests....

One of the last nests on Costa Fragata hatched yesterday evening and by chance we were there to see it.  At around 17.20 when we got to the nest we saw six little heads poking out of the sand and within 20 minutes there were 73 frisky hatchlings racing for the sea.  I guess they came out a little bit early as it was so overcast and cool.  An amazing treat, it's really rare to be in the right place at the right time.

So Costa Fragata is almost finished, but still lots more turtles waiting to be born on Serra Negra!

Mother Nature Network

SOS Tartarugas is featured on Mother Nature Network's destination of the week. Mother Nature Network

The strangest turtle ever?

This oddly deformed turtle was given to us a few days ago after it was seen floating around just off Santa Maria.  It had lost two of its flippers, possibly in a shark attack and clearly could no longer swim.  The malformations included a really a shorterned, heart-shaped carapace which curved upwards at the edge, particularly at the rear and a large hump in the middle.

The veterinarian who examined the turtle suggested that the main cause was a calcium deficiency which may have been due to poor nutrition.


In Cabo Verde many people keep turtles at home, often in sweet water rather than salt and feed them an inappropriate diet.  A lack of sunlight and being kept in a small container would also be a contributing factor.  It is possible that this turtle became a victim of this practice.




Unfortunately its injuries were too severe for it to survive.


For more photos please follow this link

Scientific Paper Published : The Effects of Tourism, Beachfront Development and Light Pollution on Nesting Loggerhead Turtles on Sal, Cape Verde

We are delighted to announce that our research regarding the effect increasing amounts of beachfront development has had on nesting turtles since SOS Tartarugas started working in 2008 has been published in the magazine of the Zoological Society of Cabo Verde. 

Nesting beach July 2010

The research found that although hunting of female loggerhead turtles is still a  major issue, habitat loss and light pollution are becoming a more serious threat. Construction sites, hotels, apartment buildings and restaurants close to beaches, bright lights and illegal removal of sand are contributing to a marked decrease in the total number of nesting turtles on some beaches. In 2009, beaches on Sal experienced an average increase in nests of 200%, while the beach most affected by construction (Tortuga Beach, which, ironically, is named after turtles) saw a decrease of nests of 7.3% (from 19.1% of total number of nests in 2008 to 11.8% in 2010). This beach also recorded a much lower nest to emergence ratio than normal - only 17.6% of turtles  coming ashore here laid a nest compared to the more normal 29.9% seen in other areas.  This indicates a reluctance to nest due to light pollution and other disturbances.

Nesting has halved on areas of Algodoeiro since 2008 while nesting on the beaches Santa Maria has declined from 7% of all nests to only 3% in 2010. 

Even more alarming is the fact that 75% of nests had on Algodoeiro had to be moved in 2010 due to the threat of light pollution that would cause disorientation to the hatchlings at birth - this figure was much lower at 26% in 2008.  On the east coast only 9% required relocation to the hatchery for this reason.

The results indicate a trend towards turtles moving from established nesting areas to beaches with less disturbance.  However these other beaches have lower hatching success rates (such as Serra Negra which is subject to flooding) and higher mortality rates of nesting females as they are unpatrolled (northern beaches and in particular Mont Leão which accounts for 41% of all turtles killed on unpatrolled beaches).

Sadly, the beaches are bright but the future for turtles on Sal is not.

The full report can be read and downloaded here

Turtles saved by Rangers

Now the season is coming to an end we are able to look back over this year’s data and see what we have achieved.  This year's tagging and recapture data shows we tagged 111 turtles.  We have seen two turtles that were tagged by SOS in 2008 meaning that the work we conducted in the first year of the project is already allowing the safe return of turtles for another year.

This year we have also recorded five turtles from projects on other islands, something we always find particularly exciting and interesting as turtles tend to nest on the same or similar beaches year after year.  However we are finding that here in Cape Verde turtles do wander and visit other islands.  Peach is a fantastic example of this, 17 days after she was tagged on Sal, she had made her way to Boa Vista where she was nested on Boa Esperança beach.

Out of all the turtles tagged this season 38% have been seen again and 36.9% have been seen laying two or more nests.

Every year there’s always one turtle who makes herself known more than the others, this year it was Spaghetti who was seen six times and laid three nests.

Horizonte and Squirt were the turtles Rangers saw nesting the most this year, both turtles laid four nests. Horizonte was tagged by members of a workshop held in July and every nest she laid was on exactly the same section of beach!  Squirt laid all her nests on Serra Negra, the busiest beach on Sal this year.  Squirt was also seen by a group of guests on one of our 'Ranger Experience' tour.

This year we saved nine turtles through direct intervention, all were found turned upside down by hunters waiting to be killed.   Seven of these turtles were saved in one exhausting week in August!   Many of them were seen returning more than once this season completely undeterred by their earlier experiences.

Chase was seen four times including the time she was saved.  She was seen nesting twice and her first nest was the day after she was saved. 

Upsey, Eurildo and Francesca were all saved on the same evening.  Both Upsey and Eurildo were seen nesting twice after.  Francesca was wise and made sure she wasn’t seen again!

Two nests laid by saved turtles have hatched and both were amazingly successful with 90% of the eggs developing into little turtles.

All in all, another remarkable season!  If you want to adopt and name one of our tagged turtles send an email to SOS Tartarugas