Nest Monitoring
During the nesting season (from April to January), STCB staff and volunteers patrol the beaches most used by turtles, recording signs of nesting and hatching, as well as monitoring the safety status of nests.
Bonaire's beaches receive an annual average of 75 nests. How do we know that it's important to protect these nests in the interests of sea turtle survival? We know because detailed counts reveal that large nesting colonies are rare. For example, only .4% of all known species-specific nesting sites in the Wider Caribbean Region receive more than 1000 hawksbill crawls per year. On the 1,311 known nesting beaches in the region, roughly half support fewer than 25 nest crawls per year. These counts provide an important perspective. It turns out that protection of the many small nesting colonies is critical if we are to maintain hatchling production and genetic diversity.
The research record yields important information over time about population status. By comparing nesting data from year to year, we will gradually see trends emerge. Because annual variation in nesting activity is normal in marine turtles, only data collected long-term (more than 10 years) will be truly indicative of how healthy these nesting turtle populations are.
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Determining the success rate of a hatch - photo STCB. |
Mabel counts eggshells and hatchlings - photo Marlene Robinson |
