Hawksbill Released

Great news from Guate... this morning we were able to release the stranded juvenile Hawksbill turtle back to the ocean. There was a good turn out for the event, the teachers and pupils from the local school attended and it was the first time any of the locals had seen a Hawksbill. March the 8th is carnival day so the scene was filled with eggs and confetti along with the carnival king and queen... so sereal that it can only be Guatemala!

A special thanks to Gloria and Leonel... the couple who found the turtle and brought it straight to us- thanks to them the turtle has made it back to the ocean.

Stranded juvenile Hawksbill

Here in La Barrona we have just received our first live stranded turtle. She’s a small and feisty juvenile Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) with a curved carapace length of only 36 cm. She was found stranded on the beach close to the border of El Salvador entangled in a large nylon sack. Luckily one of the local egg poachers picked her up and brought her straight to us. There doesn’t appear to be any obvious injuries so we will keep her under observation for the next couple of days and all being well, release her as soon as possible.

Although Hawksbill turtles do not typically nest here on Guatemala’s Pacific beaches, on average we have at least one stranding each year, which indicates that Eastern Pacific Hawksbills are passing through Guatemalan waters. This species of turtle is classed as critically endangered (see: http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/8005/0) and until recently was thought to be virtually extinct from the Eastern Pacific region. However, a large rookery has been discovered in neighbouring El Salvador and conservationists throughout the region are working hard to learn more about these turtles in order to protect them. For more information on Eastern Pacific Hawksbills see: http://hawksbill.org/ or read the following journal paper: http://hawksbill.org/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/gaos_2010_EPhawksbills.pdf

First Leatherback Nest of the Year!

Holas!
Great news from La Barrona, Guatemala... on the 28th of January we were graced with the first Leatherback nest of the season, further to that it is also the ONLY nest that has been laid on the entire Pacific coast of Guatemala this year. The Eastern Pacific population of Leatherbacks is in serious decline and the low nesting numbers in Guatemala over the last few years speak for themselves.
We burried 56 eggs in the hatchery on the morning of the 28th and these should hatch in about 60 days... the 8th of April. Photos will follow..

Let's hope that this lone female comes back again over the next few weeks to lay another nest because every one really does count. If you'd like to read some more on Leatherbacks and conservation of the Eastern Pacific population the following are interesting sites:

http://www.conservation.org/great_turtle_race/Pages/pacific_leatherbacks_face_extinction.aspx

http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/6494/0

Feliz año nuevo!

Akazul would like to wish all of our supporters a "Feliz año nuevo"!

This year is sure to be an exciting one, and we will keep you up to date with everything new from Akazul... the project will be up and running for the beginning of the turtle season (July 2011) and the website is going live any day now.

So far, we are pleased to report that the first of the migratory humpback whales have been spotted off the Pacific coast of Guatemala... a good omen for the start of the year!

Please keep coming back for the latest news from Guatemala...

TED checks

This week we went out with a local fisherman to do some spot checks on trawlers to determine whether or not they were using their Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs). We left early from Hawaii and caught up with the boats trawling just off the coast at depths of 15-20 meters. All boats haul in their nets after 2 to 3 hours, and thats the point that we ride over to spot the TED. We came across some 5 boats, and surprisingly all of them were using their TEDs. We hope to do more trips like this throughout the turtle nesting season to ascertain the sources of mortality for Guatemalas sea turtles.

Guatemalan Shark Fishery

This week I went with Luke & Mel to check out rumours of turtle oil being sold at Puerto San Jose.... although we didn't have any luck finding the oil the trip turned out to be an eye opener. In just one of the fish landing bays was an array of endangered and internationally protected species: numerous juvenile sharks, sub-adult sharks with their fins removed, sailfish, and we even managed to get shark finning on video. A fairly gruesome place and shocking to have an implication of how many sharks Guatemala is removing from the ocean each day, month and year without any quota. More trips are on the agenda and this is just the start of investigating the extent of shrk finning and shark fisheries in Guatemala. Watch this space and we'll keep you updated.

Juvenile sharks landed at Puerto San Jose

Sharks with their fins removed & more juveniles

Showing off the catch - a beautiful sailfish

2010 Turtle Season

A big hola from Pacific Guatemala!

As the project has not officially been operating this season we have relied on a few dedicated volunteers to take the reins for us... Leon (UK) stayed for 4 months and worked with Bernado (the hatchery manager) in La Barrona. Luke and Mel (Oz) then joined Leon for his final month, and between the three of them they have burried a tonne of eggs in the hatchery. Akazul want to say a massive thankyou to the three of them as their contribution to the community, hatchery and turtles has been exceptional.

Leon, Luke and Mel with Bernado's family

Parlama nesting (photo by Luke)