By LAST Volunteers | Project Leader
The end of the season in Pacuare beach is a time for us to reflect on our conservation actions, and create a strategy for the coming season.
It would be a pleasure to say that 2016 has been a roaring success - in some ways it has. But it has also been an immensly friustrating season for our on the ground staff.
Leatherback nesting activities were average - after the climate phenomena of el niño last year, this is fairly normal. In total we managed to save 112 leatherback nests from the beach which were relocated to our safe hatchery and guarded throughout their incubation.
However 102 leatherback nests were poached from the beach. We are only steps ahead of people that illegally take the eggs for sale or consumption.
This time of year is green turtle nesting season, which comes with the added threat of not just the eggs being poached, but also the turtle being hunted for her meat. Our staff and volunteers must be extra vigilant on the beach - staying with the turtle throughout the whole nesting process to ensure that she safely returns to the ocean.
On average, we rescue approx 30 - 40 nests of the green turtle each year - but for unknown reasons, this year the hatchery has received 99 green turtle nests! This unexpected rise in turtle activity has put huge pressure on our station. 45 green turtles have been killed on Pacuare beach this year - and the local coastguard unit has managed to save 18 turtles from this same fate.
To combat this, more patrols are needed on the beach - we have the objective of training more locals, recruiting more volunteers, and having more students involved in research.
Generous donations from GlobalGiving donors will help us to achieve this - but we still have a long way to go before the beach gets the protection it so desperately needs.
But its not all doom and gloom.
This season we were the witnesses to a rare albino hatchling from one of our green turtle nests!
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