Page 7 - AHATA

Friday 27 January 2023 locAl
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Sea turtle conservation by Turtugaruba Foundation

ORANJESTAD ― Turtugaruba the beach was being mon-
was founded on September itored in which now there
3rd, 2003 by a group of en- is a good overview of sea
thusiastic volunteers. Ten turtle nesting activities.
years earlier, in 1993, a Sea
Turtle Recovery Action Plan There are 4 different sea
(STRAP) was introduced in turtle species that visit Aru-
Aruba and the rest of the ba to lay their eggs, each
Caribbean as an initiative of with their own specific sea-
the United Nations Environ- son:
ment Program (UNEP). Tom • Leatherback Sea Tur-
Barmes, who was working tle - Lederschildpad
at DLVV (Deptartment of - Driekiel (March – Sep-
Agriculture, Husbandry and tember)
Fishery) was one of the writ- • Loggerhead Sea Turtle
ers of the STRAP for Aruba, - Dikkopschildpad -
together with Karen Eck- Cawama (May – Sep-
ert, director of WIDECAST tember)
(Wider Caribbean Sea Tur- • Hawksbill Sea Turtle -
tle Conservation Network). Karetschildpad - Caret
This is how sea turtle con- (June – December)
servation started on the is- • Green Turtle - Soepschil-
land following a plan that is dpad - Turtuga Blanco
still complied with today. (July-November)
development comes with to find a complete nest of that carry a warm place
Tom formed a group of There also came a better artificial light and artificial about 70 hatchlings on the in their hearts for the sea
volunteers around him, understanding and over- light is a mayor issue for sea streets, dead, as cars drove turtles. All four species are
because nature does not view of the biggest threats turtles, mother turtle usually over them. Thanks to their active now, which means
know office hours, like an to the sea turtles existence comes on shore at night protection methods and a all hands on deck in the
organization such as DLVV. in Aruba and how these looking for a dark beach to lot of time and effort, the field for us, the volunteers.
This group of volunteers problems should be tack- make her nest. However… volunteers of Turtugaruba We strive to keep the sea
used the name Widecast led. Despite hard work, all a dark beach is hard to have managed to get this turtles, our oldest ‘repeat
Aruba and today there are those years, most problems find here nowadays. Light under control. But for a sus- guests’, always coming
still a few of them active. have not really gone away, causes stress and can result tainable solution there must back to Aruba and get the
They first started protecting but luckily and thanks to the in her returning to the sea be less light visible on the chance to reproduce here.
the Leatherback Sea Turtle enormous efforts from the without laying her eggs. beaches and a strict regu-
nests on Palm Beach and volunteers, the sea turtles Artificial light causes disori- lation of it. Sea turtles simply What you can do to pro-
Eagle Beach. This group are still here. On Aruba the entation for the baby sea need dark nesting beaches tect the sea turtles
also investigated which sea turtles are threatened turtles (hatchlings). for their survival. It is clear • Lights out for sea turtles.
other species of sea turtles with extinction by pollu- that even more coastal de- • Do not drive on beach-
use Aruba as their nesting tion, driving on dunes and They crawl towards artificial velopment would not make es.
habitat and which beach- beaches with quads and light sources (like street- the situation better for the • Do not litter. Do not
es are used by them. For a 4x4’s and the loss of nesting lights, hotel lights, etc.) sea turtles. Again, more ho- leave any plastic cups,
period of 25 years a study beaches due to coastal and then they don’t find tel rooms? And even busier straws or bags on the
has been conducted in development on behalf of the sea. In the 90’s it was beaches? These are choic- beach.
which every early morning tourism. Because coastal still a common occurrence es Aruba has to make. Do • Remove obstacles from
we want to leave a place the beach.
for the sea turtles? Not only • Do not disturb a nest-
Aruba, but the entire world ing sea turtle. Do not
needs sea turtles! Sea tur- attempt to touch the
tles play a vital role in keep- turtle but stay at a re-
ing our oceans healthy. spectful distance (at
least 10 meters).
The Green Turtle, for ex- • Do call Turtugaruba (24
ample, keeps the sea hour Turtle Hotline: (297)
grasses on the bottom of 5929393).
the sea short and therefore •
a healthy place for many For more information visit
fish to deposit their eggs. the facebook page Tur-
The Leatherback, the larg- tugaruba Foundation. q
est turtle of the world, eats
mainly jellyfish and helps
maintain the balance be-
tween jellyfish and plank-
ton. Despite the threats
that exist on Aruba, the
turtles still keep coming.
That’s why today Turtuga-
ruba is especially proud
of the volunteers and the
many people and organi-
zations of our community