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Thursday 8 december 2022 locAl
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Sea turtle conservation by Turtugaruba Foundation

ORANJESTAD ― Turtugaruba was
founded on September 3rd, 2003
by a group of enthusiastic volun-
teers. Ten years earlier, in 1993, a
Sea Turtle Recovery Action Plan
(STRAP) was introduced in Aruba
and the rest of the Caribbean as
an initiative of the United Nations
Environment Program (UNEP). Tom
Barmes, who was working at DLVV drove over them. Thanks to their
(Deptartment of Agriculture, Hus- protection methods and a lot of
bandry and Fishery) was one of time and effort, the volunteers of
the writers of the STRAP for Aruba, Turtugaruba have managed to
together with Karen Eckert, direc- get this under control. But for a sus-
tor of WIDECAST (Wider Caribbean tainable solution there must be less
Sea Turtle Conservation Network). light visible on the beaches and
This is how sea turtle conservation a strict regulation of it. Sea turtles
started on the island following a simply need dark nesting beaches
plan that is still complied with to- for their survival. It is clear that even
day. more coastal development would
not make the situation better for
Tom formed a group of volun- the sea turtles. Again, more hotel
teers around him, because na- - Leatherback Sea Turtle - Leder- beaches with quads and 4x4’s and rooms? And even busier beach-
ture does not know office hours, schildpad - Driekiel (March – Sep- the loss of nesting beaches due to es? These are choices Aruba has
like an organization such as DLVV. tember) coastal development on behalf of to make. Do we want to leave a
This group of volunteers used the - Loggerhead Sea Turtle - Dikkop- tourism. Because coastal devel- place for the sea turtles? Not only
name Widecast Aruba and today schildpad - Cawama (May – Sep- opment comes with artificial light Aruba, but the entire world needs
there are still a few of them ac- tember) and artificial light is a mayor issue sea turtles! Sea turtles play a vital
tive. They first started protecting - Hawksbill Sea Turtle - Karetschild- for sea turtles, mother turtle usu- role in keeping our oceans healthy.
the Leatherback Sea Turtle nests pad - Caret (June – December) ally comes on shore at night look-
on Palm Beach and Eagle Beach. - Green Turtle - Soepschildpad - ing for a dark beach to make her The Green Turtle, for example,
This group also investigated which Turtuga Blanco (July-November) nest. However… a dark beach is keeps the sea grasses on the bot-
other species of sea turtles use hard to find here nowadays. Light tom of the sea short and therefore
Aruba as their nesting habitat and There also came a better under- causes stress and can result in her a healthy place for many fish to de-
which beaches are used by them. standing and overview of the big- returning to the sea without laying posit their eggs. The Leatherback,
For a period of 25 years a study has gest threats to the sea turtles ex- her eggs. Artificial light causes dis- the largest turtle of the world, eats
been conducted in which every istence in Aruba and how these orientation for the baby sea turtles mainly jellyfish and helps main-
early morning the beach was be- problems should be tackled. De- (hatchlings). tain the balance between jellyfish
ing monitored in which now there is spite hard work, all those years, and plankton. Despite the threats
a good overview of sea turtle nest- most problems have not really They crawl towards artificial light that exist on Aruba, the turtles still
ing activities. gone away, but luckily and thanks sources (like streetlights, hotel keep coming. That’s why today
to the enormous efforts from the lights, etc.) and then they don’t Turtugaruba is especially proud of
There are 4 different sea turtle spe- volunteers, the sea turtles are still find the sea. In the 90’s it was still the volunteers and the many peo-
cies that visit Aruba to lay their here. On Aruba the sea turtles a common occurrence to find a ple and organizations of our com-
eggs, each with their own specific are threatened with extinction by complete nest of about 70 hatch- munity that carry a warm place
season: pollution, driving on dunes and lings on the streets, dead, as cars in their hearts for the sea turtles.
All four species are active now,
which means all hands on deck
in the field for us, the volunteers.
We strive to keep the sea turtles,
our oldest ‘repeat guests’, always
coming back to Aruba and get the
chance to reproduce here.

What you can do to protect the sea
turtles
• Lights out for sea turtles.
• Do not drive on beaches.
• Do not litter. Do not leave any
plastic cups, straws or bags on
the beach.
• Remove obstacles from the
beach.
• Do not disturb a nesting sea
turtle. Do not attempt to touch
the turtle but stay at a respect-
ful distance (at least 10 meters).
• Do call Turtugaruba (24 hour
Turtle Hotline: (297) 5929393).
For more information visit the face-
book page Turtugaruba Founda-
tion. q