Turtle egg poachers beware in Schooner Bay, Abaco
The bad news about pristine and deserted beaches all over the world is that they are deserted and people up to no good can do lots of “no good”. LIKE…… steal turtle eggs to sell or to use in cooking. It’s hard to believe in this day, natives on some of these islands are still not aware the damage they are doing. Thanks to the efforts of Schooner Bay, an attempt is being made to put a stop to this kind of ecological thievery that affects us all. Read the story.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
16 APRIL 2010
Telltale Turtle Tracks
DATE: 16 APRIL, 2010
LOCATION: SCHOONER BAY BEACH, SOUTH ABACO
TOPIC: TURTLE NESTINGS AND THEIR HUMAN DESTRUCTION IN SOUTH ABACO
CONTACT: JAMES MALCOLM ‐ Director Marketing & Public Relations/Schooner Bay Ventures
242‐366‐2044 james@lindroth.cc
“Nesting Giant Sea Turtles in South Abaco Face a Real Threat From Human Interference & Pilfering of
Nest Eggs – Cash Reward Now Offered to Help Find Culprits”
We are in that time of year where giant sea turtles (Loggerheads, Hawksbills and Leatherbacks), make their annual migration to the pristine and undeveloped Atlantic shores of South Abaco to feed heavily on the abundance of sea life (such a Portuguese Man‐O‐Wars), then come ashore in order to lay their eggs on the empty beaches. The turtles come ashore mostly at night, lay eggs by the edge of the dune, cover their nests in a near immaculate fashion and then return to the sea via a different path. Their telltale tracks give away the nest locations and thus allowing for certain senseless humans, who display a total lack of respect for nature, to find and pilfer eggs from the nests. One such occurrence took place last week on Schooner Bay beach, as evidenced by the picture below.
A DISTURBED AND PILFERED SEA TURTLE NEST
PORTUGUESE MAN‐O‐WAR ‐ TOP TURTLE FOOD
In response to this sea turtle nest invasion and destruction, this incident has been reported to a number of local authorities and environmental activist groups, as well as the BNT Executive Committee ‐ who have committed to deal with the matter immediately and seriously. A source at BNT was quoted as commenting something to the effect of; it’s time someone went to jail for this ‐ to send the clear message that this type of thing must and will be ended by our generation. The Schooner Bay developer and its on‐site team of conservationists have decided to put up a $5000 cash reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of those who committed or commit these unlawful acts and senseless crimes on our precious natural resources.
Additionally, the Schooner Bay team has installed a number of high‐tech monitoring instruments and patrols to help ward off such attacks on our sea life and protect it going forward. Things such as night vision motion detectors, geodetic sensors on alarms and infrared cameras that will allow for potential advance warning and photographic evidence of the culprits. This is a very serious matter to all concerned and must not be allowed to continue for all the obvious reasons. Should any person have any information on the recent turtle nest pilfering in South Abaco, please contact:
Mr. Keith Bishop – Park Warden
Schooner Bay Harbour Village
242-577-0041 keith@islandsbydesign.com
Mr. David Knowles
Chief Park Warden – Abaco
Bahamas National Trust
242-367-6310dknowles@bnt.bs
2 comments
[...] Given my recent experience with turtles down in Mexico, I was intrigued to find a post about turtles and poachers on the Black Fly Outfitters blog. [...]
Unfortunately, turtle egg poaching is still a national sport it seems all over the world. If you have a beach in the islands you will have to watch out for turtles and you have the responsibility to protect their nests. Schooner Bay is on one of the last nesting beaches for leatherback turtles I’m told so their commitment to protect that beach is critical for the future of the turtles. Black Fly is part of Schooner Bay and therefore part of the desire to foster the “do the right thing” thinking.
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