POINTE DENIS, Gabon — After two hours of scouring the beaches of Pongara National Park in the dark night, Joan Ikoun-Ngossa and his patrol finally find a leatherback turtle.
It has just laid its eggs and is struggling awkwardly back to the sea.
For its young, however, there is just a one in a thousand chance of making it to adulthood, thanks to a deadly combination of humans, natural predators, pollution and sometimes sheer bad luck.
With the help of a light -- coloured red, so as not to dazzle or upset the turtle -- Ikoun-Ngossa of Aventures Sans Frontieres (ASF -- Adventures Without Borders) climbs onto the animal to take measurements.
It comes in at 1.6 metres (5.2 feet) long and 1.11 metres wide.
The leatherback is the world's largest species of turtle -- they can live for up to 80 years and reach 2.4 metres in length. However, it is critically endangered.
After measuring the turtle, Ikoun-Ngossa attaches a ring on its back leg to track its progress after it leaves the Gabonese coast.
Clumsy and awkward on land, the turtle disappears in a few strokes once it reaches the water, leaving behind great crawl marks in the sand like the tyre tracks of a four-wheel-drive.
During the two-month egg-laying season, beginning in October, the turtles scramble onto the beach at night, dig a hole, lay their eggs inside and cover them with sand before departing again.
The whole process takes a little less than two hours.
The females lay between 50 and 120 eggs, and one in three is a "dud", with no embryo inside, says Ikoun-Ngossa, a former boatman who now works to protect his country's wildlife.
"The dud eggs are part of the nest. They contribute to regulate the airflow and temperature, and no doubt nature probably intended them as a kind of decoy for predators," he says.
There is no shortage of predators: monitor lizards, crabs and birds, which are all part of the natural order, but also humans, who sometimes find and eat the eggs, and dogs which dig them up.
"Of a thousand eggs laid, we estimate that only one will survive to become an adult turtle," said Angela Formia of the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Ikoun-Ngossa stays on the Pongara beaches from October to April to try to improve the eggs' chances of survival.
"If the turtle lays below the waterline, the eggs have no chance so we take those ones and put them in a special enclosure" further up the beach, he said. This makeshift "maternity ward" is currently host to more than 300 eggs.
After two or three months, the eggs hatch and the baby turtles, just a few centimetres long, crawl toward the sea, where many are eaten by birds, sharks and other predators.
"Currently there are around 40,000 females which come to Gabon, and this is the largest leatherback turtle population in the world," Formia said.
Females lay their eggs every two or three years, Ikoun-Ngossa explains, and study of the tracking devices has shown one turtle can lay up to three batches of eggs in ten days before swimming off again.
Knowledge of the turtles' lives outside these laying periods is limited.
"The data shows they move to the cold waters in the middle of the Atlantic and to the south," Formia said. "A number have been recorded off the coast of Brazil and Argentina."
Leatherback turtles play a big role in traditional Gabonese stories. Legend has it they overcame leopards, snakes and crocodiles through their cunning.
Today, many observers believe the leatherback turtle is facing extinction unless more is done to safeguard their welfare.
They say the biggest threat to their survival comes not from predators but from man-made pollution, in particular plastic bags which turtles mistake for jellyfish -- their main diet.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
For giant turtles, beach offers a precarious start to life
Sunday, November 22, 2009
PLAYA GRANDE, Costa Rica — This resort town was long known forLeatherback Sea Turtle National Park, nightly turtle beach tours and even a sea turtle museum. So Kaja Michelson, a Swedish tourist, arrived with high expectations. “Of course we’re hoping to see turtles — that is part of the appeal,” she said.
But haphazard development, in tandem with warmer temperatures and rising seas that many scientists link to global warming, have vastly diminished thePacific turtle population.
On a beach where dozens of turtles used to nest on a given night, scientists spied only 32 leatherbacks all of last year. With leatherbacks threatened with extinction, Playa Grande’s expansive turtle museum was abandoned three years ago and now sits amid a sea of weeds. And the beachside ticket booth for turtle tours was washed away by a high tide in September.
“We do not promote this as a turtle tourism destination anymore because we realize there are far too few turtles to please,” said Álvaro Fonseca, a park ranger.
Even before scientists found temperatures creeping upward over the past decade, sea turtles were threatened by beach development, drift net fishing and Costa Ricans’ penchant for eating turtle eggs, considered a delicacy here. But climate change may deal the fatal blow to an animal that has dwelled in the Pacific for 150 million years.
Sea turtles are sensitive to numerous effects of warming. They feed on reefs, which are dying in hotter, more acidic seas. They lay eggs on beaches that are being inundated by rising seas and more violent storm surges.
More uniquely, their gender is determined not by genes but by the egg’s temperature during development. Small rises in beach temperatures can result in all-female populations, obviously problematic for survival.
“The turtles are very good storytellers about the effect of climate change on coastal habitats,” said Carlos Drews, the regional marine species coordinator for the conservation group W.W.F. “The climate is changing so much faster than before, and these animals depend on so much for temperature.”
If the sand around the eggs hits 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), the gender balance shifts to females, Mr. Drews said, and at about 32 degrees (89.6 Fahrenheit) they are all female. Above 34 (93), “you get boiled eggs,” he said.
On some nesting beaches, scientists are artificially cooling nests with shade or irrigation and trying to protect broader areas of coastal property from development to ensure that turtles have a place to nest as the seas rise.
In places like Playa Junquillal, an hour south of here, local youths are paid $2 a night to scoop up newly laid eggs and move them to a hatchery where they are shaded and irrigated to maintain a nest temperature of 29.7 degrees Celsius (85.4), which will yield both genders.
On a recent night, Dennis Gómez Jiménez, a 22-year-old in a red baseball cap and jeans, deftly excavated the nest of a three-foot-wide Olive Ridley, one of the smaller sea turtle species. The turtle had just finished the hourlong task of burying 100-plus eggs and then lumbered back into the water.
One by one, Mr. Jiménez placed what looked like table tennis balls into a plastic bag and transferred them to an ersatz nest he had dug in a shaded, fenced-off portion of sand that serves as a hatchery. Sandbags are positioned to protect against tides that could rip nests apart.
When the turtles hatch, in 40 to 60 days depending on the species, they are carried in wicker baskets to the ocean’s edge and make a beeline for the water. Gabriel Francia, a biologist who oversees the youths, known locally as the “baula” or leatherback boys, likens their work to delivering an endangered infant by Caesarean section.
“In some ways we’re playing God — this is a big experiment,” he said. The long-term hope, he said, is to build a robust turtle population that will slowly adapt by shifting to cooler, more northern beaches or laying eggs at cooler times of the year.
Worldwide, there are seven sea turtle species, and all are considered threatened. (Turtle populations in the Atlantic have increased over the last 20 years because of measures like bans on trapping turtles and selling their parts.)
The leatherback is considered critically endangered on a global level. Populations are especially depleted in the Pacific, where only 2,000 to 3,000 are estimated to survive today, down from around 90,000 two decades ago. Cooler sands alone will not save them, given the scope of the threats they face. At Playa Junquillal, markers placed a decade ago to mark a point 55 yards above the high tide line are now frequently underwater.
“It’s happened really fast — we have no rain, but water pouring in from the ocean,” said Adriana Miranda, 30, the manager of a local hangout that serves beer and rice and beans.
Beachside tables have been removed because rising tides have destroyed the restaurant’s concrete terrace and uprooted shading trees there. In different circumstances, the beaches could gradually extend backward as the sea level rose. But along much of Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, the back of the beach is now filled with hotels, restaurants and planted trees, giving the sand no place to go. “The squeezing of the beaches where turtles nest is going to be a big problem,” said Carl Safina, head of the Blue Ocean Institute, a conservation group.
In Playa Grande, the turtle issue has pitted environmentalists against developers and the national government. To ensure a future for the leatherbacks and the national park, biologists wanted a large section of land extending about 140 yards back from the current high-tide line protected from development. Beachfront property owners, many of them foreigners with vacation homes, demanded hefty compensation.
Arguing that the government cannot afford the payouts, President Óscar Arias has instead proposed protecting the first 55 yards, and allowing about 80 yards of somewhat regulated mixed-use development to the rear. But Costa Rica’s leading scientists have protestedthat the new boundaries will lead to “certain extinction.”
Turtles will not nest if there are lights behind the beach, Mr. Drews said, and those first 55 yards will be underwater by midcentury.
“Turtles will have to find their way between the tennis courts and swimming pools,” he said dryly.
In a country where turtle eggs are traditionally slurped in bars from a shot glass, uncooked and mixed with salsa and lemon, biologists are also promoting cultural change.
“Of course 25 years ago, you went out with your friends or family and dug up the eggs,” said Héctor García, 42, shopping at the Junquillal market. “It was a tradition. They are delicious, cooked or raw.”
Today egg collecting is illegal in Costa Rica, but poaching is still common in many towns. It is frowned on at Playa Junquillal, where the five baula boys, with their piercings and baseball caps, patrol for poachers and are idolized by many younger children. Dr. Francia, the biologist, has also invited local families to watch the babies being released. “There were a lot of people who had eaten eggs but never seen a turtle,” he said.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
PROJECT ORION IS ON WOSM!
Scouts of the World Award Voluntary Service in Singapore
On the framework of the Scouts of the World Award (SW Award), the Singapore Scout Association has developed the second SW Award Voluntary Service: the Project Orion. Project Orion is a two-week Youth Expedition Project supported by the National Youth Council, Singapore. Organized by eight Rover Scouts from The Singapore Scout Association and one Rover Scout from The Scout Association of Malaysia (Persekutuan Pengakap Malaysia) in collaboration with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia, the project aims to promote turtle conservation in Setiu, Terengganu, and the development of the nearby village, Kampung Mangkok.
The Setiu Wetlands is the largest nesting ground for painted terrapin (Callagur borneoensis) and is amongst the few remaining mainland nesting sites for the green turtle (Chelonia mydas), both of which are endangered species. The wetland is also a major aquaculture area and plays an important role for the local villagers’ livelihood.
The project gave the team a chance to be an important part of the community and ecosystem. They were involved in assisting rangers in night patrolling for turtle nestings, hatchery work, and hatchling release amongst others. The team also planted a total of 1000 mangroves saplings along Setiu River as part of the UN’s Billion Tree Campaign. The team also raised funds for a portable stainless steel hatchery to replace the current wooden structure.
Despite the project being environmental in nature, the human aspect of the community was definitely not overlooked. The team engaged in English and awareness education with the villagers, interaction with Scouts from the local primary school. They also carried out minor repairs/refurbish of the WWF info centre, and even introduced a method to recycle used cooking oil into hand soap, which could be a source of income generation for the locals. The team also assisted two identified households with dire needs - a divorcee living in a dilapidated house with her young son and the other, a man with kidney failure who didn’t even have enough money to build a proper toilet and shower for his family.
The two- week project was a humbling experience for the team as they gained valuable exposure to the raw elements of nature and the humanity of mankind - probably a once-in-a-life time experience. As the team struggled to hold back tears when they bid farewell to a closed-knitted community which welcomed them with open arms and warm hospitality, some of them promised that they would be back. To uphold a Scout’s honour, Project Orion is set to return back to the golden sandy shores of Setiu again in 2010 and hopefully many years to come.
“No man can be called educated who has not a willingness and desire, as well as a trained ability, to do his part in the world’s work.” - Lord Baden Powell. This Scouts of the World Voluntary Service indeed gave the team members a chance to be called ‘educated’.
The Scouts of the World Award (SW Award) was launched in order to encourage a stronger involvement of young adults in the development of society by making them more aware of the present world issues and to help National Scout Organizations revitalise the programme of Rover Scout section. It is open to everyone between the ages of 15 and 26 years, regardless of ability, race, faith or location. It prepares young people for global citizenship focusing on three core-themes: Peace, Environment, and Development. It helps young people gain understanding, skills and knowledge, for life on a small planet.
It attracts, empowers and engages youth in actions of world importance. This action is based upon universal values - freedom, tolerance, equality, respect for nature and shared responsibility - respected in any culture and enshrined in the UN’s Millennium Declaration. Scouting has promoted these same values for over 100 years.
For more information on how to obtain the Scouts of the World Award visit: www.scoutsoftheworld.net.
Share your Scouts of the World activities with the World Scout Bureau by emailing Andres Morales, Unit Manager Adolescents & Young Adults.
For more pictures, please visit the Scouts of the World Award Picture Gallery.
To keep in contact with hundreds of people that are working on their Scouts of the World projects, please join the Official SW Award FaceBook group.
PROJECT ORION IS ON WOSM!
Scouts of the World Award Voluntary Service in Singapore
On the framework of the Scouts of the World Award (SW Award), the Singapore Scout Association has developed the second SW Award Voluntary Service: the Project Orion. Project Orion is a two-week Youth Expedition Project supported by the National Youth Council, Singapore. Organized by eight Rover Scouts from The Singapore Scout Association and one Rover Scout from The Scout Association of Malaysia (Persekutuan Pengakap Malaysia) in collaboration with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia, the project aims to promote turtle conservation in Setiu, Terengganu, and the development of the nearby village, Kampung Mangkok.
The Setiu Wetlands is the largest nesting ground for painted terrapin (Callagur borneoensis) and is amongst the few remaining mainland nesting sites for the green turtle (Chelonia mydas), both of which are endangered species. The wetland is also a major aquaculture area and plays an important role for the local villagers’ livelihood.
The project gave the team a chance to be an important part of the community and ecosystem. They were involved in assisting rangers in night patrolling for turtle nestings, hatchery work, and hatchling release amongst others. The team also planted a total of 1000 mangroves saplings along Setiu River as part of the UN’s Billion Tree Campaign. The team also raised funds for a portable stainless steel hatchery to replace the current wooden structure.
Despite the project being environmental in nature, the human aspect of the community was definitely not overlooked. The team engaged in English and awareness education with the villagers, interaction with Scouts from the local primary school. They also carried out minor repairs/refurbish of the WWF info centre, and even introduced a method to recycle used cooking oil into hand soap, which could be a source of income generation for the locals. The team also assisted two identified households with dire needs - a divorcee living in a dilapidated house with her young son and the other, a man with kidney failure who didn’t even have enough money to build a proper toilet and shower for his family.
The two- week project was a humbling experience for the team as they gained valuable exposure to the raw elements of nature and the humanity of mankind - probably a once-in-a-life time experience. As the team struggled to hold back tears when they bid farewell to a closed-knitted community which welcomed them with open arms and warm hospitality, some of them promised that they would be back. To uphold a Scout’s honour, Project Orion is set to return back to the golden sandy shores of Setiu again in 2010 and hopefully many years to come.
“No man can be called educated who has not a willingness and desire, as well as a trained ability, to do his part in the world’s work.” - Lord Baden Powell. This Scouts of the World Voluntary Service indeed gave the team members a chance to be called ‘educated’.
The Scouts of the World Award (SW Award) was launched in order to encourage a stronger involvement of young adults in the development of society by making them more aware of the present world issues and to help National Scout Organizations revitalise the programme of Rover Scout section. It is open to everyone between the ages of 15 and 26 years, regardless of ability, race, faith or location. It prepares young people for global citizenship focusing on three core-themes: Peace, Environment, and Development. It helps young people gain understanding, skills and knowledge, for life on a small planet.
It attracts, empowers and engages youth in actions of world importance. This action is based upon universal values - freedom, tolerance, equality, respect for nature and shared responsibility - respected in any culture and enshrined in the UN’s Millennium Declaration. Scouting has promoted these same values for over 100 years.
For more information on how to obtain the Scouts of the World Award visit: www.scoutsoftheworld.net.
Share your Scouts of the World activities with the World Scout Bureau by emailing Andres Morales, Unit Manager Adolescents & Young Adults.
For more pictures, please visit the Scouts of the World Award Picture Gallery.
To keep in contact with hundreds of people that are working on their Scouts of the World projects, please join the Official SW Award FaceBook group.
