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Proyecto
Karumbé: Preserving the Sea Turtles of Uruguay
More
than just another sea creature, Uruguay’s sea turtles are
becoming cultural icons.
By Mariana
Rios, Special to AquaNews
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Thanks to the efforts
of the Karumbe Project and the members of coastal communities,
green sea turtles can swim a little more safely through the
waters of Uruguay.
Photo:
Proyecto Karumbé |
Of the
seven species of sea turtles found around the world, four of them
live in Uruguyan waters: the green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas),
the leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea), the loggerheads
(Caretta caretta) and the rare olive ridleys (Lepidochelys
olivacea). All of these species are presently listed as Endangered
by the World Conservation
Union (IUCN).
For more
than 30 years, establishing nesting beaches was considered a high
priority for conserving these populations of sea turtles. However,
as time passes, the scientific world has realized the importance
of preserving their feeding grounds and assessing the impact of
human activities on them.
Located
on the East Coast of South America (35ºS), Uruguay has no nesting
beaches for sea turtles. However, it is an important foraging area
for the first three species named above. In this article, I would
like to share my experience working with sea turtles in Uruguay
for the Karumbé
Project.
The Karumbé
Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to the research and
conservation of sea turtles. It was created in 1999 by a group of
Uruguayan students, educators, biologists and researchers.
Up until
the beginning of 1999, there were no sea turtle research and conservation
programs in Uruguay. A few specific studies were conducted, but
a high number of sea turtles were dying every year - victims of
artisanal and industrial fisheries that operate in the Río
de la Plata and South Atlantic Ocean. This reality is still reflected
in the high number of stranded sea turtles on beaches along the
coast.
Humble
Beginnings
Starting
a new line of research in Uruguay was not easy. We knew we were
not going to get much support from government as this was a new
topic, and in fact, sea turtles were a totally unknown part of our
wildlife. Still, we did not give up, and started looking for international
support.
At the
beginning of 2001, Karumbé was awarded its first financial
support, winning the prestigious Gold Award from the BP Conservation
Programme, BirdLife International and Fauna & Flora International.
In 2002, new financial support came from the National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation (NFWF). After that, we received foreign support from
the PADI Foundation, People’s Trust for Endangered Species,
Aware Foundation and national support from FREPLATA. We recently
received the Follow-Up Award from the BP Conservation Programme,
which is again financing our Project.
For four
years we have conducted sea turtle research and conservation activities
with fishermen and coastal communities. Based on data from our preliminary
surveys, we established in 2002 that the main threat to Uruguayan
sea turtles was incidental capture, especially in trawl fisheries
and artisanal gillnet fisheries. Illegal trading of carapaces and
consumption of turtle meat were also drastically affecting sea turtles
that populate our seas.
The Karumbé
group decided to take action and approach these fishing communities.
We believed that sharing our knowledge of sea turtle diets and foraging
ecology with the communities could help to identify important food
resources, guiding management decisions and the designation of critical
habitats.
We found
that these fishing communities share something in common: despite
being fashionable tourist attractions during the summer, they are
virtually forgotten by the government for the rest of the year.
For most of the year, these marginalized communities experience
poverty, homelessness and other social problems, which make sea
turtle conservation less of a priority for the starving villagers.
It also reminds us that in order to address conservation issues,
we must also address social issues.
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Educating longline
fishermen about the dangers of bycatch and teaching them how
to release snagged turtles have been critical steps in the
work of the Karumbé Project.
Photo:
Andres Domingo |
A
Community Approach
In our
early days, Karumbé faced its first challenge with the seaside
communities: On one side were young and eager university students
with a very scientific approach to nature and a project in mind,
but for whom the sea and the coast had been mostly synonymous with
vacation. On the other side were people of all ages, from very different
cultural, economic and social environments, who had lived in close
contact with the sea for generations. The lives of these people
depended so much on the sea and nature that they needed to learn
to understand and trust each other.
During
the past two years of research, this group learned to work closely
together to determine the total number of stranded individuals along
the Uruguayan coastline. This intense work, carried out in collaboration
with the different fisheries, helped us to understand the composition
and distribution of the different populations of sea turtles in
our waters. The main feeding area for green turtle was identified,
and genetic studies helped to determinate the principal nesting
sites for our turtles.
Today, these achievements seem small considering how much we have
achieved through our conservation activities to create public awareness
and involve local people in our work. We developed diverse conservation,
education, and development activities with fishermen and coastal
communities, such as organizing open talks to community members
and interactive activities with children along the coastline. The
objective of these activities is always to share information and
create awareness around the critical situation of sea turtles, and
to propose ways of working together to help them.
Working
day-by-day with local communities for long periods and trying to
be there every time they needed us allowed us to form deep and meaningful
relationships with each community. We soon realized that we had
become involved in many aspects of the community that were not strictly
related to our conservation work, such as the cultural, economic
and social issues faced by people living close to sea turtles and
their habitat.
I truly
believe that this is the biggest challenge any conservation group
might face. Our most challenging and rewarding tasks are to understand
the real needs of the locals, to help them find solutions and to
inspire an improved quality of life through our work and the image
of the sea turtle.
Conservation
Strategy
In order
to implement conservation actions for the recovery of the endangered
sea turtle populations, we have established different target areas,
each one with a particular objective:
Fisheries:
Asses the incidental captures in artisanal, industrial (trawl
and longline) and sport fisheries, and develop mitigation measures;
Education:
Increase the awareness of the current status of endangered
sea turtles through an environmental Educational Programme directed
to coastal communities, fishermen and their families, and the
general public. Promote their involvement and participation in
the conservation activities carried out by the project;
Ecology
and Behavior: Identify the foraging grounds used by sea turtles
in Uruguay. Assess short-term foraging ranges, activity patterns
and movements of sea turtles in Uruguayan foraging grounds;
Genetics:
Identify which rookeries contribute to the Uruguayan feeding
grounds and which are also affected by fisheries in the region,
thus enhancing the knowledge about the migratory routes of sea
turtles in the South Atlantic Ocean;
Veterinary
and Rehabilitation: Identify the most common diseases and
pathologies affecting sea turtles in Uruguay, and minimize mortality
in affected individuals;
Stranding
Network: Collect all possible information and samples of
every turtle stranded along the Uruguayan coastline;
Illegal
Trade: Asses the magnitude of the illegal carapace and meat
trade, and take measures to avoid this challenging situation by
converting the involved dealers;
International
Cooperation: Strengthen the joint work with Brazil and Argentina,
and continue directing efforts towards the Inter-American Convention
for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles (IAC). In addition,
it is important to mention how important and essential volunteer
work has been. Volunteer support has primarily come from Uruguay
and countries such as Spain, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina and Chile.
Looking
Ahead
Today’s
Karumbé is a much more consolidated team of researchers,
biologists, veterinarians, teachers, students, fishermen and volunteers.
New goals have been set, but our mission remains the same: to encourage
community members to conserve these precious natural resources by
demonstrating their relevance to the lives of individuals and families.
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Children
have been instrumental in bringing a conservation message
to local communities. Here a group of children hold up a stranded
turtle before returning it to the ocean.
Photo:
Proyecto Karumbé |
Children
all along the Uruguayan coast have become our ambassadors, promoting
the message of conservation to whole communities. Adults, most of
whom are dependent on fishing activities, are also showing an increasing
interest and desire to collaborate with us on the project. We now
receive reports of stranded or injured turtles from communities
all over the coast, and some fishermen have even decided to help
us to collect information.
A Marine
Center of Information has been established in the town of La Coronilla,
where people can freely receive information on sea turtles. Another
Center has just been constructed in San Luis, giving community members
the opportunity to learn screen-printing and attend handcraft lessons.
These lessons are designed primarily for fishermen’s wives,
who are usually lost and forgotten in their daily housekeeping duties.
The Center is also used to hold meetings of all kinds.
One of
our most important aims is to attract the interest of children,
helping them and their families to understand that education opens
a wonderful new world that they can also be part of. We are also
working on integrating fishermen’s families with society in
general.
In addition
to actively promoting the participation of local community members,
we also believe that it is important to involve people from different
countries and walks of life in our conservation activities. We strive
to create awareness in our volunteers, helping them to feel the
wonders of nature and understand the fragility of our ecosystems.
Volunteers
come from Uruguay and abroad to work with the Karumbé project
every field season, during summer (December to March), when more
sea turtles are found in foraging areas. No matter the season, however,
their work has been invaluable. The exhaustive data collected by
our volunteers has truly helped to optimize our research.
Activities
during the field season include the capture of individual juvenile
green sea turtles to collect morphological data and skin samples
for genetic studies. Long surveys across 50 kilometres of coastline
search for stranded individuals, dead or alive. Radio and sonic
telemetry are used to study the home range of the green sea turtles.
Tour guides at the Marine Center give open talks for tourists, the
general public and at schools in the communities. Observers on board
fishing boats also help to assess the incidental capture of sea
turtles in artisanal fisheries.
Working
with volunteers has been one of the most enriching experiences in
my life. In August 2003, I started working with volunteers in Costa
Rica (Tortuguero National Park, with the CCC; and Playa Caletas
leatherback project PRETOMA),
a country with many of the same conservation issues. It is great
to see how much work is being done to extended conservation areas
in that country. Looking after so many National Parks would not
be possible without the help of many international volunteers –
the men and women of all ages that each year choose to come to this
destination.
I deeply
believe that being directly in touch with nature - listening, smelling,
watching, touching and always showing the utmost respect - is an
experience that makes us truly appreciate what the world is about.
In the
end, sea turtles are more than just an important part of our complex
marine ecosystems: they have become truly iconic animals for Uruguayans.
These mysterious reptiles, which have existed since ancient times,
are a part of our past and present – and symbols of wisdom,
peace and our dreams for a better future.
Mariana
Rios is a third-year biology student at Cience College, Universidad
de la República, Uruguay. She has been a Research Assistant with
the Karumbé
Project since September 2001. From August 2003 to March 2004,
she worked at nesting beaches in Costa Rica as a Research Assistant
for the CCC (in Tortuguero National Park) and PRETOMA (at Caletas
beach). She is currently working in the areas of artesanal fisheries
and education for the Karumbé Project.
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