Dear Friends,

'Funny', our female Hawksbill turtle has resumed her journey to the west and is headed in the direction of Central America. After analyzing the newest set of data points, it was determined that the last data point reported the prior day was erroneous and deleted. 'Funny' has picked up speed and in the last 24-hour period covered 120 km. She is now 830 km from Bonaire. If the coast of Honduras or Nicaragua is her destination, she still has over 800 km to go.

Best regards,
Andy Uhr
Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire

PO Box 492
Kralendijk, Bonaire
Netherlands Antilles

phone (599) 717 2225
cellular (599) 790 0433
email stcb@bonaireturtles.org
website www.bonaireturtles.org

Dear Friends,

'Funny', our female Hawksbill turtle continued swimming to the west yesterday. She covered about 90 km in the last 24-hour period and is now over 920 km from Bonaire.

Best regards,
Andy Uhr
Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire

PO Box 492
Kralendijk, Bonaire
Netherlands Antilles

phone (599) 717 2225
cellular (599) 790 0433
email stcb@bonaireturtles.org
website www.bonaireturtles.org

Totally cool! Can I get one? It would make a great Christmas gift?

Dear Friends,

'Funny', our female Hawksbill turtle has turned slightly to the northwest. Yesterday she swam a little more than 80 km and is now over 1000 km from Bonaire. Perhaps her destination isn't Honduras or Nicaragua after all?

We will keep you posted.

Best regards,
Andy Uhr
Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire

PO Box 492
Kralendijk, Bonaire
Netherlands Antilles

phone (599) 717 2225
cellular (599) 790 0433
email stcb@bonaireturtles.org

Dear Friends,

Female Hawksbill turtle 'Funny' is continuing on in direction slightly to the northwest. Yesterday she covered a little less than 80 km in a 24-hour period and is now approximately 1080 km from Bonaire.

Green turtle 'STINAPA' continues to transmit from her feeding ground about 80 km off the coast of Nicaragua. Although our turtle seems to be doing well, we recently received a very sobering update on the general turtle situation on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua from Cynthia Lagueux, who has for years been working with local communities addressing turtle issues there. Here is an excerpt from what she writes:

"Nicaragua has a legal green turtle fishery conducted by primarily Miskito Indians but also by Creole; and Sumu and Rama Indians. There is a closed season each year from March through June but attempts at enforcement only occur in the large towns on the coast (Puerto Cabezas, Bluefields, and on Corn Island). The coastal communities continue harvesting turtles throughout the year. Cathi Campbell and I conduct a Sea Turtle Research and Conservation Program on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua for the Wildlife Conservation Society - a non-governmental, non-profit organization. Through our work with local communities we have learned that more than 11,000 green turtles, several hundreds of hawksbill and loggerheads, and a much smaller number of leatherbacks are captured every year on this coast. Green turtles are brought to the communities or to the large towns, butchered, and the meat sold. We have seen an incredible increase in the number of green turtles butchered each day just in the town of Puerto Cabezas, from 5 to 6 turtles/day in the mid-1990s to almost 20 turtles/day now. In addition, there is a fleet of foreign shrimp boats that trawl the coast. Although Nicaragua law mandates that they use turtle excluder devices (TEDs) it is rarely enforced. We have received reports of hundreds of turtles and have seen tens of turtles stranded dead on the beach. We are working with local turtling communities; local, regional, and the national government to reduce the threats to sea turtles but we have much work to do. The coastal communities depend on green turtles as a source of primarily income but also a source of inexpensive protein. Older turtle fishers are aware there are fewer turtles than when they were young and they have to fish longer and farther from shore to capture the same amount. They are willing to reduce the harvest but need alternative sources of income. I hope this provides you with a better understanding of the dangers green turtle 'STINAPA' faces by coming to Nicaragua to forage." - Cynthia Lagueux, Ph.D., Associate Conservation Zoologist, Wildlife Conservation Society, www.wcs.org


We will keep you posted.

Best regards,
Andy Uhr
Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire

PO Box 492
Kralendijk, Bonaire
Netherlands Antilles

phone (599) 717 2225
cellular (599) 790 0433
email stcb@bonaireturtles.org

Dear Friends,

Season's Greetings to you all. Rather than the our customary tracking map, we thought we would sent you something a little special in keeping with this time of year -- a map summarizing the tracking program for the last two years.

As for 'Funny', our female Hawksbill, she is still on her northwesterly course. Once again she covered 80 km yesterday and is now approximately 1180 km from Bonaire.


Best regards,
Andy Uhr
Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire

PO Box 492
Kralendijk, Bonaire
Netherlands Antilles

phone (599) 717 2225
cellular (599) 790 0433
email stcb@bonaireturtles.org

Dear Friends,

'Funny', our female Hawksbill, is continuing in a northwesterly direction. Her speed has been constant for the last several days at 80 km per day. She is slightly over 1250 km from Bonaire.


Best regards,
Andy Uhr
Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire

PO Box 492
Kralendijk, Bonaire
Netherlands Antilles

phone (599) 717 2225
cellular (599) 790 0433
email stcb@bonaireturtles.org

Dear Friends,

Our last nesting turtle of this season, hawksbill 'Funny' is now over 1300 km from Bonaire. She continues to move at a pace of 80 km per day, turning slightly towards the north in the direction of the Cayman Islands. 'Funny' is now approaching the extensive shallow-water banks located between Honduras and Jamaica, with the closest being the Seranilla and Rosalind Banks, which are probably good feeding grounds for turtles. In the next few days it should become clear whether this is her destination or she chooses to continue onwards and upwards.

On a different note, as many of you are aware, I will leaving the post of STCB Project Director as 2004 comes to a close. In charge of continuing the Bonaire turtle-ops will be 'Mabel' Nava (now with Jong Bonaire), together with 'Funchi' Egbreghts, of course. Mabel brings with her incredible energy, enthusiasm and plenty of new ideas for all aspects of our turtle cause. As a full-time resident of Bonaire, Mabel will be able to dedicate much more time to our many activities, and especially to those that I have neglected during the last two years. I look forward to seeing how the STCB program evolves in Mabel and Funchi's hands. While I expect to remain involved mostly at a distance, I do hope to return to the island plenty in future for "special projects", such as the turtle tracking.

This past year has been an exceptionally good one for our organization, with lots of very positive achievements. Of course, the turtles have helped, allowing us to showcase their spectacular long-distance migrations, record their ever higher nesting numbers, and even having a rare leatherback come to lay a few nests. But only the persistent efforts by a group of very good people can lead to such publicity highlights as the fantastic DCNA awareness campaign "Protehá Nos Turtuganan", now underway, and which will no doubt become a model for other turtle conservation programs in the Caribbean to follow. To all who make our program possible -and you know who you are- I am very very grateful. Because of you I can now start on my own homebound migration, not like some of our nesting turtles hungry after their 2-3 month fast, but with a belly filled with satisfaction.

Thanks and I hope to see ya' out on a turtle beach sometime.

We will keep you posted,

Robert P van Dam

Project Director
Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire

PO Box 492
Kralendijk, Bonaire
Netherlands Antilles

phone (599) 717 2225
cellular (599) 790 0433
email stcb@bonaireturtles.org
website www.bonaireturtles.org

Robert, Thank you so much for your postings which have raised my awareness, interest, and concern. I wish you well ... Denise