Okt
30
Written by:
frank zindel
30.10.2009
October 30, 2009 - Joana Hancock
On the 18th of October, our team went for a short visit to Varandinha beach, located on the west coast of Boavista. Preliminary data from the NGO Natura 2000 indicates that this beach was one of the most problematic ones this season for poaching. But nothing quite prepared us for what we saw. What initially looked like paradise on Earth, soon was obvious by the smell on the beach that we would find some nasty surprises. On a complete survey done by our team, we counted at least 61 "fresh" carcasses littering the 3 km beach. These turtles, killed this year by analyzing the remains, could probably represent the majority or even the totality of nesting population on this beach. We have been urged to protect this beach, alongside with the Boa Esperança beach located in the north of the Island. These two beaches, totalling no more than 6 km of coastline, will have accounted for more than half of the dead turtles estimated or recorded by Natura 2000 in 2009 for the whole island.
The situation is critical, and obviously needs urgent attention. In 2010 we hope to be able to address both beaches, as well as the ones we protected this year, thus ensuring the protection of over 95% of the nesting females in Boavista, complementing the conservation efforts already carried out by N2000. But Varandinha is extremely dependent on funds that haven't been secured yet. Your help will be greatly appreciated, if you would like to help, please consider donating some money or material to Turtle Foundation. We hope that we can make the difference!
Some pictures of Varandinha beach, October 2009:
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