Excessive tourism on the nesting beaches

Over the past few months, we have been following a development on the nesting beaches of the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) with great concern. This year, an unprecedented number of tourists have flocked to the beaches of the Cape Verdean island of Boa Vista on so-called ‘turtle watching’ tours, causing the sensitive ecosystem to shake considerably. More and more of them are driving onto the beaches at night in pick-up trucks, approaching the nesting females in an intrusive manner and jeopardising possible egg laying. In principle, it is possible to observe the animals while they are building their nests and this does not disturb them. However, there are a few things to bear in mind, which we would like to remind you of.

We see turtle watching as a good opportunity for the local population to generate an alternative income. At the same time, it can help to change attitudes towards turtles. Because in the long term, a healthy nesting population can help to earn more money than killing the animals, selling their meat and thus risking their survival.

But … and here comes the big “though”: it is important that a few rules are observed so as not to disturb the turtles. In particular, care must be taken not to use bright lights (flashlights or white torches) and to approach the animals respectfully, at a sufficient distance and only from behind when they have started to lay their eggs.

Sea turtle laying its eggs covered in red light, since this does not irritate the animal

To ensure a minimum level of safety, in many places – including Boa Vista – you are only allowed to go to the nesting beaches with licensed tour operators and only at suitable locations. The number of participants per group is limited to eight and participants must follow the instructions of the trained guides.

This has worked reasonably well in the past. Licences are applied for by the providers at the local office of the Ministry of the Environment. The tours are then allocated to specific beaches so that the visitors are evenly distributed. Community guards commissioned by the authority check the daily licences at certain checkpoints and verify the number of visitors.

A capacity limit is established by calculating the number of tours and guests, as well as the beaches authorised for turtle watching. Until 2019, we noticed a steady increase in the number of tours and tour providers. This year, however, turtle watching has exploded in such a way that the capacity limits of the beaches have been significantly exceeded. In the tourism industry, this phenomenon is referred to as overtourism. Turtle conservationists such as our Cape Verdean sister organisation Fundação Tartaruga are increasingly disturbed in their work and can no longer record nesting activities in peace because the beaches are overrun by people. Turtles are being disturbed while laying their eggs, and pick-up lorries, in particular, are driving unabashedly over dunes and beaches to bring their paying guests as close as possible to the action.

Unechte Karettschildkröte baut Nest in Reifen-spuren im Sand

There are currently 13 officially registered tour operators on Boa Vista who are entitled to apply for day licences. However, the situation has gradually escalated and is now completely out of control. The local department of the Ministry of the Environment has lost track of the licences and the community guards are no longer able to control the flood of vehicles. They also face insults when they point out that the maximum number of guests has been exceeded or that licences are missing. The law of the jungle now applies, and the maximum number of people has been suspended. Chaos rules on the beaches.

Unfortunately, we ourselves have no means of dealing with this tangle of licences and their control. What we have been doing for some time, however, is meticulously documenting everything we notice on the loggerhead turtle nesting beaches in order to pass this on to the relevant authorities in the island’s capital. There are an increasing number of incidents in which vehicles illegally drive directly past our hatchery to the beaches in the east of the island. The whole situation has become extremely stressful, especially for our staff and volunteers on the volunteer programme at Camp Lacacão, with aggressive reactions from the tour guides constantly to be expected. Not to mention what the night-time commotion on the previously deserted beaches means for the turtles …

Recently, things have finally started to move. Our reports have been taken seriously by the relevant ministries. The Minister for Agriculture and Nature Conservation, Dr Gilberto Silva, has visited the island together with the Commissioner for National Turtle Conservation to take a look at the situation on the ground. This also included a visit to our Lacacão camp, which gave the minister the opportunity to get to know our work. We hope that action will now follow. While it may not be in time for this nesting season, it is essential that efforts to monitor turtle watching are significantly expanded for future seasons.

Incidentally, we at the Turtle Foundation and Fundação Tartaruga do not generate any income from such turtle watching tours. We believe that this resource belongs to the people of Cape Verde. Unfortunately, however, we realised that the majority of the income does not remain in the country, but ends up in the pockets of the large, international tourism providers. There are actually only a few locals who are legally involved in this business, such as some taxi or pick-up drivers.

Are you planning a trip to Boa Vista and thinking of going on an excursion to see the nesting sea turtles? Then please make sure that you only sign up for an officially licensed tour with no more than eight people in total. However, at the current time – as of September 2024 – we can only advise against this, as the beaches are currently very overcrowded and a tour is not justifiable for ecological reasons.

If you would instead like to contribute to ensuring that the turtles can lay their eggs on the nesting beaches in a protected environment, you can actively support us by taking on a symbolic adoption for a loggerhead turtle.