A big hello to you all!
The 2012 sea turtle season
has officially kicked off in La Barrona! We will get you all up to speed with
where the project is at so far this year...
New Hatchery
 |
| Mid way through construction of the new hatchery |
 |
| The finished hatchery |
Inauguration
The hatchery inauguration
went off without a hitch- many of the local community attended and offered
their support for an increased conservation effort this season. A lot of folk were
extremely positive to continue pushing the 20% per nest collaboration rate and
also to ban motorised vehicles on the beach which is great news. It no way
seems like a year ago that Scott and Sarah were stood in front of the village courageously
pushing for 20% collaboration, not knowing whether they would be booed off the
stage. It really is amazing how far the project has come in just 12 months.
Alice came across from Hawaii to help out and Ever was as always a rock of
support- thanks so much to both for being there.
 |
| Scott promoting 20% per nest at the inauguration |
 |
| Alice, Scott & Ever addressing the community |
 |
| The young Akazul football team standing proud at the inauguration |
Turtles
Last year we counted 1119
nests across 7.2km of beach in La Barrona so we will now be able to start
comparing nesting activities on a yearly basis to see what factors affect
nesting density and over time, how healthy the nesting population is. We will
once again be tagging as many nesting females as we can on night patrols this
year. Last year we managed to tag 191 olive ridleys and 1 black turtle and we
hope with increased participation of the La Barrona sea turtle stewards and
greater coverage of the beach that we will be able to increase the number we
tag this year. It really is unchartered territory with tagging ridleys in
Guatemala- this data will enable us to known how many nests each female lays
each season, the inter-nesting interval and nest site fidelity (i.e do turtles
tagged in La Barrona only nest in La Barrona). Beyond this, tagging also has
the potential to tell us where females go after nesting, all important
knowledge to enable us to better protect these magnificent animals.
Although patrolling is
slow with a gentle start to the season, we are already up to 500 eggs buried in
the hatchery – not a bad start at all.
Ever in Costa Rica and Panama
Some rather late news- Ever headed off to Costa Rica and
Panama at the beginning of the year to work as a research assistant with the
Endangered Wildlife Trust. We are happy to inform you that he managed to drag
himself away from the white sand beaches and rainforests of Costa Rica and
returned safely to Guatemala! An amazing
experience for him, the opportunity to see huge leatherbacks nesting and to
gain additional practical turtle conservation experience in Latin America. He
had an incredible time on the trip and we would like to offer thanks to the EWT
for giving him such a great opportunity.
 |
| Ever releasing a leatherback hatchling at the Pacuare reserve, Costa Rica |
International Volunteers
We would like to say a big thanks to the first volunteers of
the season- at the moment we have a Harry and YØsie
working with us in La Barrona who have been a great help with the hatchery construction
and inauguration. Over the next couple of weeks we look forward to welcoming
three more volunteers; Lucy, Fran and Emma, to the project.
We will be updating the blogsite throughout the coming season, so check back soon for the latest news from Guatemala!
Saludos!
Akazul x
