Nice to be appreciated!

From Shirley and Charlie, Santa Maria, Sal
Was just reading your end of year results.I would just like to say you have done a marvellous job,Well Done!!!

From Alvin, Margaret and Jenny, adopters of the last nest to hatch :
Please continue to do such great work in helping all turtle species survive, not only the hunters but their ever changing environment. We all like holidays and lovely beaches but we never think at what cost

From the Captain of the port in Palmeira, Sal
Sra. Jacquie e a sua equipa, Bom Dia!
Eu, Cabo Verde e o futuro agradecemos-lhe muito pelo vosso grande trabalho. Aquela força de sempre e que continuem! Espero que um dia darei mais do que essa força. Melhores Cumprimentos!
Dear Jacquie, Good Morning!
I could just say and write those nice things in English, but the nicest of all is: The Truth. You are, really, doing a great job! We all must be greatfull for this.
My Best Regards! Carlos Melquíades Soares

From Celeste Benchimol, head of WWF Cabo Verde
Estimada jacquie
Muito obrigada pelas informacoes e Parabens pelo Trabalho resalizado. Forca para esta nova época.
Thank you very much for the information and congratulations on your work. Strength for the new year.

From Adolfo Marco, head of Natura 2000 turtle project, Boa Vista, Cabo Verde
Dear Jacquie
I have watched your web page and I am really impressed. Your work is
fantastic. On so small time you have done a lot of progress and really
attractive and efective activities. My most sincere congratulations.

From Matthias Schmelz, our Patron
Wow! It is truly amazing what you were able to achieve!
Congratulations Jacquie! You are a star!
I wish you a wonderful year!

From Brendan Godley, Senior Lecturer in Conservation Biology, University of Exeter, UK
Just skim read annual report. It is with a sense of pride that I see our very own students (from Uni and Cyprus Project) working on such a fantastic project. Well done!
I would like to help support your efforts in whatever way I can with modest time and other resources at my disposal as CV is so very important for turtles.

A small rant

As Santa Maria gears up for the Professional Windsurfing Association's world tour it is really sad to see that in setting up for it, heavy lorries have churned up the beach. Ironically narrowly missing our sign asking people not to drive on turtle nesting beaches. (Should be grateful that they didn't just plough into I suppose). Surely this is the time to be showcasing the beauty of Ponta Preta, not inviting people to come and see it's destruction? Even worse is that there is a perfectly good road that goes to exactly the same place, you just have to drive 200m further on to get to it. What a shame the organisers of an environmentally friendly sport don't make the connection.

Make 2009 an amazing year

If you want an amazing experience doing something really worthwhile, join us on Sal during the summer and train to be a Ranger. We have lots of different positions from full time to working a couple of days during your holiday. See our website for full details. www.turtlesos.org

First season results

What an amazing season. This time last year when we were dreaming of a small project that could help to reduce the number of turtles killed here on Sal and get people talking about all the threats to their habitat, I had no idea what we were about to start. 12 full time Rangers and many volunteers combining with colleagues from the Camara Municipal, Dept of Environment, Police and numerous others really changed the situation here forever.

Everyone who was involved can feel really proud of what was achieved - a 72% reduction in mortality of nesting turtles on the beaches of Sal. This means we went from 1 in 9 turtles killed to 1 in 62. Our sincere thanks to everyone who supported us in any way.

Here are a few other interesting statistics :

Total number of turtle emergences : 1,238
Beach with the most activities : Black Sand Beach (Algodoeiro/West Coast in front of Cotton Bay)
The beach with the most nests was Ponta Jelonga with 47 (just north of Igrijinha)
Most surprising area was to the east of Santa Maria (beyond Leme Bedje) where 36 turtles came ashore among all the rocks and rubbish (oh yes, the turtles are crazy)
Total number of turtles killed was 39, the majority at Mont Leao (13)
The number of turtles saved by direct action by Rangers or police was 19
The total number of turtles tagged was 101.
Total number of nests 346
Total number of nests in the hatchery 89 (26% of nests relocated)
The largest nest recorded had 153 eggs, the smallest had 15 eggs (average 81 eggs).
The first nest hatched on the 12th August and the last on Christmas Day, December 25th
The average incubation time in the hatchery was 59 days.
The average incubation time for nests on the beach was 56 days.
Babies born in the hatchery - 5,517

The full report in English and Portuguese can be downloaded from our website www.turtlesos.org or
here.

Indestructable!

She has legendary status. She is Big Mama. A venerable loggerhead measuring more than 1m and an enormous head. She has been nesting here for a long time and nothing is going to get in her way. She has dragged many a Ranger and burly soldiers down the beach - she will not be thwarted and she doesn't care if you want to measure or tag her. Even hunters cannot deter her, it was a close call - she was seconds away from being butchered and saved in the nick of time by the Rangers. And she is back, (who says the season is over?) yet another nest laid last night on Paradise Beach to add to the two already in the hatchery. We are expecting super-babies from those nests.

Hatchery vs Nature

Now that we have had plenty of nests hatching in both artificial and natural conditions, we are beginning to discuss the relative merits of both. Our hatchery success rate is 70% but most of the nests left in situ are much higher at 90%+. However, the nests that we have moved would probably have been washed over by high tides or destroyed by vehicles if we had not intervened and maybe no hatchlings at all would have emerged. Our ideal would be to leave all the nests on the beach that were not below high water, but the problem so far, is that although all in situ nests have high hatching success, without exception, the majority of hatchlings have gone the wrong way and headed towards the lights of buildings and construction sites. We estimate that more than 90% of the babies born naturally this year have already been lost. If this has been happening, unmonitored in previous years, we are going to have a serious problem in 20 to 30 years when it is time for them to return to Cabo Verde.

Not such a good result

Last night a nest hatched on the beach by the new residential area in Santa Maria. Unfortunately almost all 65 babies headed for the buildings, many of which are very brightly lit, even though they are unoccupied. Several were also killed on the road. I am personally very upset as we searched and searched for the nest back in July and even though the turtle had made eight attempts to dig a nest, we believed that she had given up. It's a very rocky area and everyone told us turtles no longer nest there. If we had found the nest it would have hatched safely in the hatchery. What is even more upsetting is that the residents and developers I have spoken to do not feel that their lights are a problem. Turtle friendly lights are just as good as regular lights and we believe that people buying property on Sal would want the turtles to keep coming to beaches near their houses. We feel even more determined now to rescue nests in areas like these until we can convince people to make some compromises to help the turtles.