Amid high mortality govt mulling more protection for turtles - Hinds Beal commits US$20,000 to conservation programme By Miranda La Rose Stabroek News August 9, 2000 The United States government "is dangling both carrots and sticks before us to urge us to find a definite way to get Guyana's shrimp fleets to use Turtle Excluder Devices at all times", Prime Minister Sam Hinds said, highlighting the problem of the accidental catching and drowning of sea turtles. Meanwhile Beal Aerospace Investments, the latest corporate sponsor to get involved with the marine turtle conservation project at Shell Beach in the North West District, has committed the sum of US$20,000 for this current period when the turtles are not nesting. Speaking at the opening session of the Fourth Meeting of the Guiana Shield Marine Turtle Conservation Programme hosted by the Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation Society (GMTCS) at Ocean View Hotel and Convention Centre on Monday, Hinds said that Beal's corporate sponsorship for off-season projects in turtle conservation activities shows the prospects of developing cooperation between the turtle conservation programme, Beal Aerospace and all the inhabitants north of the Waini river. Petroleum supplier, Shell Antilles, is another major corporate sponsor which subscribes to marine turtle conservation. The two-day conference, which was hosted by the GMTCS, was sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund. It attracted participation from turtle conservation projects in Venezuela, Suriname, French Guiana and Guyana. The last conference was held in French Guiana. Hinds, who is the patron of the GMTCS, said that government and the local marine turtle society are seeking ways and means to stop the slaughter of the endangered species. Noting that, government this year experimented with a three-month no-net fishing zone in the nesting areas of the Shell Beach, he said that "we are currently deciding how best to protect the turtles from net mortality next year while still allowing fishermen either to make a living or to find equally remunerative labour in other sectors." Shell Beach is a 90-mile stretch of land consisting of several beaches from the mouths of the Waini to the Pomeroon rivers. Hinds noted the loss of Leatherback turtles during the current season and other developments which have taken place during the year. This was expanded on by the Project Manager on the conservation programme at Shell Beach, Romeo DeFreitas when he presented the Guyana report. Hinds commended biologist and turtle conservationist Dr Peter Pritchard for pioneering the Guyana turtle conservation project. Presenting the Guyana report, DeFreitas noted that the nesting season this year was the largest in about two decades. He said that it was due to conservation efforts which began about a decade ago. This was evident in the number of new mature Leatherback turtles which nested this year. Though over 3,000 turtles would have nested on the beaches for the year so far, DeFreitas noted that for the period from April 4 to July 27, there were 2,589 crawls. Of this number 2,373 were Leatherback, 119 Green, 90 Hawksbill and seven Olive Ridley. The Olive Ridley had not nested at Shell Beach for the past three years. For the entire 1999, DeFreitas noted that there were 411 crawls. They included 200 Leatherback, 120 Green, and 90 Hawksbill. He noted, too, that one of the Logger Head species was caught in a gill net off the beach and kept in captivity for three weeks before it was released back into the sea. The Logger Head marine turtle is not common to Guyana but could be found nesting in neighbouring Venezuela. Six Leatherbacks with tags not known to Guyana also nested at Shell Beach. DeFreitas said that their origins are currently being investigated. Noting that the mortality rate was very high, he said that during the same three-month peak period under review some 92 dead Leatherbacks washed ashore at Shell Beach. They included 45 at Almond Beach, 36 at Peter Beach and 11 at Kamwatta/Luri. In one day alone, May 10, 13 dead turtles washed ashore at Peter Beach. All the victims, he said were from drift seines which measured from one kilometre to three kilometres in length - 40% were chopped and were without limbs while 60 per cent drowned in nets. The major problems, he said, were that fishing was still being conducted in the no-fishing zone; the setting of fishing nets directly in front of the nesting beaches at Luri and Kamwatta; the slaughtering of adult female turtles at Gwenie and Tiger beaches; and the sale of the meat at Santa Rosa and other communities in the Moruca area. With funding received from the World Wildlife Fund, he noted that a new camp was established at Kamwatta and a new outboard engine was purchased which has helped to better patrol the beaches. The GMTCS obtained a grant of US$30,000 from the WWF for this year's conservation activities during the nesting season. They were also assisted by the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard. In the educational outreach programme, members of the Almond Beach community took part in the monitoring of nesting female turtles and one person has moved with his family to live at Peter Beach to check activities there. Hinds earlier in his address said that the development of a protection programme for the Shell Beach area in the North West, where endangered sea turtles nest, stands out as a priority along with the extended Kaieteur National Park. Though government has passed laws to protect sea turtles and other vulnerable wildlife and though Guyana is a signatory to CITES (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of wild flora and fauna), he said that for many years government programmes for patrolling the remote areas where endangered species live have been very limited. "With the new millennium many things are in place for this situation to change and to change rapidly", he added. Government, he said, is conscious of "the need to marry protection of Guyana's ecological richness with the creation of material wealth for the peoples of the country." He said "we are proud of the protected areas we have already put into place" noting the establishment of the Iwokrama Conservation Programme and the extended Kaieteur National Park. In the establishment of protected areas Government, he said, has at all times sought "to reconcile and resolve in practical ways the varying interests and needs of all stakeholders particularly those of hinterland peoples, the majority of whom are Amerindian people." There are a number of problems government is experiencing as it seeks to develop parks and protected areas systems, he said pointing out the various disputes over the precise borders of the Kaieteur National Park. They "are reminders that while Guyana enjoys the advantage of much government-owned land that does not have to be purchased inch by inch to create protected areas it is nevertheless a devilishly complex and controversial business" to create ecological sites such as national parks in areas where indigenous or other peoples are trying to survive and make a living. He reassured residents, particularly those living in the hinterland that Environmental Impact Assessments, monitoring and audits will take into consideration their physical, social and cultural needs in the establishment of protected areas. Follow the goings-on in Guyana in Guyana Today