Early last November, there was a small tropical storm that hit the Treasure Beach area. When we went down to the beach to look for any damage that might have occurred we were suprised to find baby sea turtles emerging from the sand and heading straight for the sea. In past years, we have found old turtle shells lying around but for some reason never thought much about it. Once we realized that Treasure Beach is a sea turtle nesting area, we went looking for more evidence of their presents. All up and down the beaches we found evidence of nesting turtles as well as new developments along the shore which are altering and distroying the habitat that these turtles need to nest successfully. Mixed in with all the sports park discussions are comments by people who are concerned with environmental issues and yet I have never heard anyone mention the sea turtle vs development problem. I realize that this has nothing to do with the sports park but am interested to know if anyone would be interested in getting something going with sea turtle conservation.

Please see my message dated May 14 2008 about sea turtles.
I have written Diana at JET about this same subject. I was told that they are trying to get TB schools in the progam for next year, but funding is an issue. I do the best I can when I am there, as if I am on a mission. I get a real rush out of educating some people on the facts of the turtles. To me it is extremely fascinating. I will be there in Sept. Most people stay away during hurricane season, but that's really the best time! I would love to be part of joining with you on this cause. I feel very strongly that education, or the lack of it is either our cure or curse. And educating the young is where it should start at this point. So as we move forward, I think somehow getting the funding for the schools would be the place to start. Maybe Diana could give us an idea on funding costs?

Turtles are much more valuable to a community alive than dead.

They take 30 years before they start to reproduce.

And since the female turtles are the only ones who come to shore (lay eggs) they are the ones that get killed.

One maybe 2 of the baby turtles will live to be an adult.

Do not have lights turned at night as it confuses the turtles.

When a turtle lays her eggs, the male eggs are at the bottom and the female eggs are on top.

So my main points are if only one or two babies lives to be an adult, and they do not reproduce for 30 years, they need our help to survive.

It is hard to get by the mentality I hear a lot, which is “they taste so good”.

That makes me queasy.

mnken I am happy you are educating people in TB about the turtles. Why not go (if you have not already) to the basic school and primary school when you come in September and offer a little lesson for the children. The teachers would probably welcome you and I know the children would love it.

I would love to work with you anyway I can. Maybe you can teach me first. Do you know just which species of turtles use our area? Does anyone know how many nesting beaches there are or how many turtles actually use the area? Since turtles tend to come back to the same beach where they were hatched, protecting the nesting habitat is important. With all the development along the shore it would be good to also educate the landowners along the beach so that, as they develop their land, they have the information they need to do so in harmoney with the turtles if they are interested. I also believe that the turtles could be a tourist draw that could bring in guests during the lean summer months and help pay to protect them.

I think I will. Thanks for the suggestion!
From my experience, the kids are easier to reach than the adults. Then maybe the kids can teach the adults. Seriously. If I talk to 10 adults maybe 1 will care enough to show interest. Aint that right Cliff?

Hello mnken, when exactly will you be in TB in September? I'll be there September 12-19 and would love to meet you to maybe get some information about the sea turtles, as you seem to know a lot more about them as I do (actually I haven't yet seen any in the 13 years since I'm coming to TB).

The last time I was in Greece we met some people who were runnig a program to protect the sea turtles there, and to collect donations for their program they had created an "adopt a turtle"-program: They had designed very nice certificates, and each person that donated a certain amount would get one of these certificates. This was very well received by the tourists, who would donate and get a certificate as a kind of souvenir to bring back to their friends/family. I got one for my little nephew who was very proud to have his own "turtle certificate" in a picture frame at home ...

I will be there Sept 5-19.
This is not a pure pleasure trip, in fact it is mostly business, so I will be in and out and need to go to Kingston a few times.
Just an FYI that I am no expert by any stretch. I have learned about the turtles by reading books, and asking lots of questions at Sea World Orlando!

MNKEN one of the turtles nesting areas are in fort charles beach, i was in TB jogging one morning at 5 to 6 AM and saw four big ones in the sand.

What a wonderful idea! Wish I could be there doing my bit. Had no idea there were sea turtles in the area.

Hey AB, tell me about the rush and the high you felt when you saw that...

Hi everybody, marine turtles are endangered throughout their range in the world. WE have several species that nest here in Jamaica: I will get some better information for you when I go to work. Yes, we have done turtle education in our schools programme, but it is all but certain that programme will close this summer. We just cannot keep it funded. The main things about turtle conservation are (1) to restrict or eliminate lighting on the beach during the nesting season - will confirm when that is. What happens is baby turtles often emerge at dusk to reduce predation from birds and they head to the sea. How do they know where the sea is? The horizon appears lighter from a turtle's point of view. So when there are lights on land, this confuses the baby turtles and they head inland where they die. (2) Preserve the beach dune and the beach vegetation. Turtles nest just above where the waves reach, so they need a stable, soft part of the beach. (3) Restrict walls and other structures on beaches. Turtles are very smart in some ways but not others and if they run into a wall, they just keep trying to get over it, even it could be easily walked around. (4) Keep dogs and other animals off beaches. Turtle eggs are very attractive to many animals. That's it for now, will see what else I can find on turtles and post it to the forum. Diana from JET

Thank you Diana for the great information. I agree that education is important as there is no doubt that the children are our future. Still think we need to make sure that here are some turtles left for them to protect when they grow up and that responsibility falls on us adults. It is true that as I walked the beaches, I did notice quite a few large block walls at the seaward edge of peoples property just about where the turtles would lay their eggs if there was any habitat left. Also, last summer there was a new house built near where we stay west of Billy's Bay. I was suprised to see that when the house was completed, there were a whole heap of bright lights all along the sea side. The people responsible for building this house knew better but desided to ignore the turtle issue.
Mnken stated that turtles are more valuable to the community alive then dead. I would like to think that is true but at this point the meat is sweet and can be a money maker in slow financial times. If we want the community to view turtles as a valuable resource worth protecting, we have to figure out a way to make it pay to protect them. There is a woman in Trinidad who has protected a local beach which increased the number of turtles and she now takes tourists out to watch when they come ashore to lay their eggs. This could bring in enough money to hire locals to protect the beach and provide money flow into the area thus making the turtle worth protecting.

yep, that t-dad lady is something. here is a link to her.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/05/28/cnnheroes.suzan.lakhan.baptiste/

Here is the link to the Trinidad lturtlew lady that Sallt T. spoke of:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/05/28/cnnheroes.suzan.lakhan.baptiste/

Let's be careful though about putting the turtles in a 'cageless zoo'. They are not going to lay their eggs with people coming up to them, or shining lights at them. Or petting them, etc. Of all the animals in the world, what I find so interesting about them is I can think of no other animal who leaves themselves so suseptable to the dangers around them. Think about it. They leave their natural habitat and come to shore with absolutly no defenses against anything. Just to lay eggs. They do not have the capability to go into their shell. They have nothing. They are the "ultimate moms".

I would add to Diana's excellent post that it would be helpful to teach students to brush away the tracks turtles leave when they waddle up to lay their eggs, and then go back to sea. A coconut branch or almost anything will serve the purpose, which is to discourage two-legged predators from finding nests and digging them up for breakfast.
My wife and I did that a couple of years ago when we found tracks near Rainbow Tree, a hundred yards or so west of our Villa Hikaru. I wrote to a turtle-preservation e-dress who told me it would be (I think) five years or more before any of the progeny made it back.

After seeing sea turtles in their natural habitat I can never even imagine eating turtle and I will try just about anything. ;)
I do remember when I was on a Windjammer cruise the Captain was adamant about people throwing cigarette butts overboard. Apparently the turtles will eat them but cannot digest them. Eventually if they eat enough it will kill them.
I'm sure many people don't think of those types of things when they throw their cigarette into the sea.

I remember as a little child, my uncles used to catch turtles in nets around the bluff. This was so long ago, way before there was talk of extinction and protection, so I cannot fault my beloved uncles. I never liked the meat because of the multiple colors dispalyed in the sunlight, and the gamey taste it had, but the eggs were out of this world.

I don't live in TB anymore, and don't get back often, but I'd eagerly support any attempt to help with protecting the turtles, since I may have unwittingly contributed to their demise.

Here on the south eastern Florida coast, along Dania/Ft.Lauderdale/Hollywood beaches there are numerous nesting areas that have been fenced off (small areas) to protect them. There are also signs along the streets to turn off car lights, or to dim them, during the nesting season (I forgot the time period).

Would it be possible to do the same in TB? I could be wrong, but I don't think the nesting areas there are exactly in the areas where the boats are hauled up, so such actions should not necessarily interfere with fishing activities.

Are there laws in jamaica protecting the turtles? And if so, are they enforced? And are there any penalties for killing them?

All sea turtles are protected under the Jamaican Wildlife Protection Act. Sadly, the laws are not enforced, no. The penalty for harming a sea turtle is J$100,000 or 12 months in jail.

this may be my latest stupid question, but how would one make sure the laws are enforced? Or is this just one of those things....like the roads where tomorrow never really comes? Or the canal that never gets fixed? Or.....

How to get laws enforced? Civil society has to care about it, get organized, advocate, talk to their MP, to business leaders, use their spheres of influence, talk to those breaking the law, write to the press, file lawsuits etc. I think as a people we are not so much behind laws - we kind of want to do what we want to do and it's everyone else who should obey the law. It's not only the wildlife laws that are not enforced - we have a generalized problem with law enforcement in Jamaica, in my opinion. Diana from JET

Thanks for the information about the turtle lady from Trinidad. What a great story. Don't see why we couldn't start something like that but on a much smaller scale. Again if we could get something going that would involve and convert some of the turtle havesters into turtle protector that would be moving in the right direction. When I get to TB in November, I would like to talk to some of the older heads that have turtle knowledge from the era when there were more turtles. They could tell us where the best old time nesting beaches were and give some idea of just how much the population numbers have changed.

mnken, seeing the turtles was one of the most beautiful experience ever. The next morning i went back and there she was again digging into the sand, that complete my morning run.

Some good news:
Pictures of baby sea turtles