Page 10 - AHATA

a8 local
Saturday 26 July 2025

Sea turtle conservation by Turtugaruba Foundation

ORANJESTAD ― Turtugaruba was They crawl towards artificial light
founded on September 3rd, 2003, sources (like streetlights, hotel lights,
by a group of enthusiastic volun- etc.) and end up walking in the
teers. Ten years earlier in 1993, a opposite direction towards the ho-
Sea Turtle Recovery Action Plan tels and away from the sea. In the
(STRAP) was introduced in Aruba 90’s, it was a common occurrence
and the rest of the Caribbean as to find complete nests of about 70
an initiative of the United Nations hatchlings dead on the street due
Environment Program (UNEP). Tom to being run over by passing cars.
Barmes, who was working at DLVV Thanks to their protection methods
(Deptartment of Agriculture, Hus- and a lot of time and effort, the
bandry and Fishery) was one of volunteers of Turtugaruba have
the writers of the STRAP for Aruba, managed to get this under control.
together with Karen Eckert, direc- However, for long-term prevention,
tor of WIDECAST (Wider Caribbean there must be less light visible on
Sea Turtle Conservation Network). the beaches and a strict regulation
This is how sea turtle conservation of it. Sea turtles simply need dark
started on the island following a nesting beaches for their survival.
plan that is still complied with to- It is clear that even more coastal
day. a period of 25 years, a study has tember) development would not make the
been conducted in which investi- - Hawksbill Sea Turtle - Karetschild- situation better for the sea turtles.
Tom formed a group of volun- gators monitored the beaches ev- pad - Caret (June – December) Do we need more hotel rooms?
teers around him like an organiza- ery morning to study turtle move- - Green Turtle - Soepschildpad - And even busier beaches? These
tion such as DLVV, because na- ment. Now, there is a good over- Turtuga Blanco (July-November) are the choices that Aruba has
ture does not know office hours. view of sea turtle nesting activities. to make. Do we want to leave a
This group of volunteers used the Investigators also reached a bet- place for the sea turtles? Not only
name Widecast Aruba and today There are 4 different species of sea ter understanding and overview do we need sea turtles, but so
there are still a few of them active. turtle that visit Aruba to lay their of the biggest threats to the sea does the rest of the world! Sea tur-
They first started protecting the eggs, each with their own specific turtles’ existence in Aruba and tles play a vital role in keeping our
Leatherback Sea Turtle nests on season: how these problems should be oceans healthy. The Green Turtle,
Palm Beach and Eagle Beach. This - Leatherback Sea Turtle - Leder- tackled. Despite the hard work all for example, keeps the sea grass-
group also investigated which oth- schildpad - Driekiel (March – Sep- those years, most problems have es on the bottom of the sea short
er species of sea turtles use Aruba tember) not really gone away. Luckily—and and therefore a healthy place for
as their nesting habitat and which - Loggerhead Sea Turtle - Dikkop- thanks to the enormous efforts from many fish to deposit their eggs. The
beaches are used by them. For schildpad - Cawama (May – Sep- the volunteers, the sea turtles are Leatherback, the largest turtle of
still here. On Aruba, the sea turtles the world, eats mainly jellyfish and
are threatened with extinction by helps maintain the balance be-
pollution, people driving ATVs on tween jellyfish and plankton.
dunes and beaches and the loss Despite the threats that exist on
of nesting beaches due to coastal Aruba, the turtles still keep coming.
development for tourism. Because That’s why today Turtugaruba is
coastal development comes with especially proud of the volunteers
artificial lighting, these can cause and the many people and organi-
major issues for sea turtles. Female zations of our community that car-
turtles usually come ashore at night ry a warm place in their hearts for
looking for a dark beach to make the sea turtles. All four species are
her nest. However, a dark beach is active now, which means all hands
hard to find here nowadays. Light on deck in the field for us, the vol-
causes stress and can result in her unteers. We strive to keep the sea
returning to the sea without lay- turtles, our oldest ‘repeat guests’,
ing her eggs. Furthermore, artificial always coming back to Aruba
lighting causes disorientation for and get the chance to reproduce
the baby sea turtles (hatchlings). here.q