International Turtle Experts Search For the Elusive (world’s most endangered) Hawksbill

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.care2.com/causes/international-turtle-experts-search-for-the-elusive-hawksbill.html

by Brad Nahill October 12, 2012 7:00 pm

A wide beach on a warm clear evening may be the most relaxing setting on earth. We weren’t likely to come across any nesting turtles on this beautiful evening in the far northwest corner of Nicaragua (the tides weren’t right), but we didn’t mind. The soft sound of surf provided a soundtrack for the brightest Milky Way I’ve seen in years. Just being out on the sand was enough entertainment. But we didn’t travel 10 hours by bus from El Salvador for a tranquil beach walk.


Jeff Seminoff of NOAA and a member of the local research team cover a satellite transmitter with anti-fouling paint on a hawskbill turtle.

We came to Padre Ramos Estuary because it is home to one of the world’s most inspiring sea turtle conservation projects. Our motley group of international sea turtle experts was there as part of a research expedition to study and protect one of the world’s most endangered turtle populations, the Eastern Pacific hawksbill sea turtle. Led by the Nicaraguan staff of Fauna & Flora International (FFI) and carried out with support from the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative (known as ICAPO), this turtle project protects one of only two major nesting areas for this population (the other is El Salvador’s Jiquilisco Bay). This project is supported by a committee of 18 local organizations, governments agencies and businesses.

After arriving at our cabins, I grabbed my camera and took a walk through town. A late afternoon soccer game competed with swimming in the cool water for the favorite pastime of the residents. I walked out to the beach as the sun set and followed it north to the mouth of the estuary, which curls around the town. The flattened crater of the Cosigüina volcano overlooks the bay and several islands.

The next day, the local research team brought a hawksbill turtle to the town of Padre Ramos to involve community members in the application of the satellite tags. This was one of three hawksbills that the team had caught for a satellite tagging research project. Little is known about these turtles, but these transmitters have been part of a groundbreaking research study that has changed how scientists view the life history of this species. One finding that surprised many turtle experts was the fact that these hawksbills prefer to live in mangrove estuaries; previously most believed they almost exclusively lived in coral reefs.


A hawksbill hatchling is weighed after emerging from its nest.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/international-turtle-experts-search-for-the-elusive-hawksbill.html#ixzz29B2lsXnX

FULL story at link.

[marions ghost]

1. No wonder turtles are endangered

Sea turtles live 20 years before reproductive maturity.

They often die mistaking plastic for jellyfish.