During the sea turtle nesting season, about 100 residents patrol the beaches of Maio to collect data and protect the turtles from poachers.
Scientists believe sea turtle nesting has increased five-fold on Cape Verde’s three main loggerhead turtle nesting islands of Sal, Maio, and Boa Vista over the last decade.
Compared to 2015, the Cape Verdean Environment Ministry projects nearly 200,000 nests on the country’s ten islands by 2020, up from 10,725.
However, the number of nests in Cape Verde has increased so rapidly in recent decades that several researchers theorize it may be the second- or perhaps even third-largest in the world.
Scientists credit conservation efforts with increasing nesting success, according to experts.
Albert Taxonera, the founder of Project Biodiversity, a Cape Verdean nature reserve, says conservation programs in Cape Verde started two decades ago.
Throughout the nesting season, Cape Verdean NGOs inspect hundreds of kilometers of sandy coastline. For many years, people relied on sluggish reptiles as a free and readily available food source. As a result of increased economic opportunity and public awareness campaigns about the plight of sea turtles, other protein sources have become more affordable.
As a result, in 2018, Cape Verde enacted new legislation to make it a crime to kill, trade, or consume sea turtles. Offenders can face fines or get ordered to perform community service, including beach guard duty with the NGO that captured them in the act.
Not only are Cape Verde’s sea turtles thriving, but so are the country’s fisheries. Similar variables could work on beaches worldwide, from India to the United States, where nesting has increased exponentially.
Rod Mast, the co-chair of the IUCN’s marine turtle specialist group and chief editor of the State of the World’s Sea Turtles report, explains, “If you consider the number of sea turtle initiatives that are there today, especially in comparison to what you had three decades ago, there are hundreds.” “We’re doing a great job of safeguarding them,” says the official.
In addition to conservation programs, several scientists believe that the number of nesting birds is related to the ocean’s health. Turtles, for example, will have sufficient energy to lay their eggs if the ocean’s nutrient density is high during a particular year.
Another factor to consider is the worldwide decrease in shark species that prey on sea turtles. The fishery has resulted in a 70% decline in shark and ray species since 1970.
Even with recent growth, sea turtles continue to face numerous threats. For instance, the IUCN classifies multiple leatherback turtle subpopulations as threatened with extinction, and hawksbill turtles seem to be on the brink of extinction.
Fishing nets, according to researchers, are the primary cause of sea turtle deaths. Also to blame is the overuse of plastics. Turtles eat jellyfish so that people can mistake floating bags for them. Microplastics are also common in the ocean.
Mast believes that protecting beaches alone will not be sufficient – we must also pay attention to protecting sea turtles. He adds that to save the turtles, people must alter their habits regarding seafood consumption, carbon output, and plastic usage.
Raja Ampat, Indonesia, is home to these pink table Acropora coral-throwing damselfish.
Global warming may be the greatest danger in the long term.
A turtle’s sex depends on the temperature of the sand in which the turtle buries its egg, so rising temperatures distort the gender ratios. On the island of Maio, for example, scientists estimate that nearly all of the hatchlings born in 2019-2020 were female.
Fertility is affected, but so is genetic variation, and this can impede a species’ capabilities to react to climate changes. Juan Patio-Martinez, of Maio Biodiversity Foundation believes conservation efforts to protect nesting females exacerbate the problem.
Development of the coast, primarily in the form of resort areas adjacent to coastal habitats, is also a significant issue to be addressed.
According to Patio-Martinez, “we are ruining their nesting sites and contributing to global warming, but we’re still instituting compelling conservation programs.”. “As a result, it is dependent on the actions of humans. We have the option of causing their extinction or saving them.”
