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)

Family

It's nearly impossible to get every member of our family together in one place for a photo, but on Sunday we tried!

In this picture are some of the international Rangers from overseas but also our great volunteers who live in Sal.  

As anyone who has worked with us knows, it is a punishing schedule, working six nights a week for four months, walking up and down the beach for hours. 

The resident volunteers who dedicate one or two nights a week to patrol alongside full time Rangers and then go to work the next day fill those gaps on our rota that mean we can patrol even more beaches and save even more turtles.  Not only that, but they bring a fresh enthusiasm that enlivens some very tired people!  Alongside the Rangers and the volunteers we rely on our great Capeverdean contingent who find employment with us, but more than that, fight the cause by spreading the word about their work amongst their countrymen.

To those who didn't make it on Sunday (the Rangers in camp, Antonio, Steve M, the Salter family, Peter and Linda, Isabel and Vaughn, Vickey) - don't worry we'll get you sooner or later!

Nice feedback from our lovely visitors

It's always great to know that your work is appreciated so here are a few emails we have received from recent visitors to Sal.


Sent: 15 September 2011 19:02
To: Neal Clayton
Subject: Re: Muckel the turtle

Thanks for the mail ... It was really impressive to see how loving you all you care about the turtles.
It's good to know that you are. We hope to hear from you again.
Good luck and see you soon,

Wolfgang and Ilona


Sent: 18 September 2011 08:14
To: 'Neal Clayton'
Subject: AW: Schildi the turtle

Hello SOS-Tartarugas-Team!

Thanks for photos and help to save our envirement. It’s a very important job for th world.

Best regards from Austria.

Peter

 

Sent: 21 September 2011 10:49
To: Neal Clayton
Subject: Re: Chayla the turtle

Hi Neal, 
            Thank you for the email on chayla, I foward it onto my neice with same name, she is 9yrs old and thinks it is awesome, Chayla took the certificate and photos to school where her teacher showed her class, her teacher have asked Chayla if they could track it, she said could'nt, so he have asked Chayla and the group on her table to do research on the turtles, I have looked on the internet and there are so many sites, I am hoping you can recomend a site that would be suitable for Chayla's age group, thank you. 
                                                  Diane


Sent: 20 September 2011 07:08
To: Neal Clayton
Subject: Re: Becki the turtle

Hi Neal,

thank you very much for the pictures.
I work in a travel agency and I will tell all my clients who go to Cabo Verde to adopt hatchlings, too!

Have a nice day.

Best regards

Sabrina

Precious words like these help to keep the Rangers going when the work is tough and the hours are very long!  Thanks everyone.

Free the quad!

One of the biggest challenges of the project is reliable transport.  Both in terms of our own and also finding taxi and pick up drivers who are willing to work at night (and don't fall asleep when they are supposed to be collecting people for patrol!)

During the first couple of years we relied on one quad which somehow made it through to Year 4 until it was stolen.  In Year 3 this was supplemented by the purchase of an ancient Land Rover, the only thing we could afford.  Big mistake.  Charming it may be but reliable it isn't.  It has definitely spent more time sitting rusting outside the house than actually on the road.

This year we splashed out, took out a loan and bought a pick up - second hand but still in pretty good shape.  Must be us then because that has also spent an unfeasible amount of time in the garage.  Since good mechanics are hard to come by each time a vehicle goes to a garage we know it is going to come back with the original problem fixed (maybe) but one or two additional problems caused by not putting it back together properly!

Innocent of all crimes but locked up in the port

The final frustration this year involves the purchase of a quad bike from the UK.  Here it is pictured in April in the yard of the dealer.  And that is the last time we have seen it.  A normally smooth import process has been turned into a deluge of paperwork and confusion and the quad has been sitting in the dock at Palmeira since June, effectively missing the entire season for which is was bought.  The problem?  The quad was used on a farm in Wales and not road registered, therefore there was a suspicion that it was stolen since no papers existed from the relevant UK authority.  Not only that but the dealer put the wrong chassis number on the original paperwork!  Thank goodness for Cape Verde Imports's endless patience and efficiency with the process or I might really have gone mad.

Yesterday I took another (hopefully final) trip into Espargos to sign the 'last' piece of paper and now am hopeful that we may see the quad this side of Christmas.  There's still a small amount of time for it to be useful!

Second wave of turtles arrives in Sal

At this time of year, Week 15 of our nesting season, we are all thankful that the activity starts to die down a little, there are less hunters on the beach and we don't need to work as hard.  Naturally we also have a smaller team than we would do at the peak of the season.

Not this year though!  We have the decreased number of Rangers that we usually have but the amount of turtle tracks and nests has risen this week, not declined!

As you can see by the graph above, in every other year by the 18 September the line is going down.    The red line, whic shows 2011 is going UP instead - we had almost a 50% increase in tracks this week compared to last.

On top of that, during the last week, we have also seen lots of untagged turtles.  Normally we would expect to be seeing the same turtles that we have seen all season and have therefore already tagged.

Just goes to show that no amount of planning will ever prepare us for what the turtles have in store!