International Sea Turtle Symposium 24-28 February, Philadelphia

Sighted when: Wednesday morning, February 21st. What time: 6:30 a.m. Where: Flamingo Airport. Who: two early birds getting ready for their trip to the States! These two early birds were Catriona Glendinning (manager Bonaire Marine Park) and I. After a sleepless night I was ready to represent Bonaire together with Catriona during the 21st Annual Sea Turtle Symposium in Philadelphia. I was really exited, my first time in the USA and my first time to go to the symposium. This symposium is held every year and attracts about a 1000 sea turtle lovers from all over the world. And I was going to be one of them. After a long day of traveling, waiting and sleeping we finally arrived in the city of the Cheese Steak Sandwich: Philadelphia.

Prior to the actual symposium a WIDECAST (Wider Caribbean Sea turtle conservation Network) meeting was held. WIDECAST is a large Caribbean sea turtle conservation organization, which assists and advises smaller sea turtle projects in the region. This meeting was lead by Karen Eckert (executive director of WIDECAST) and more than 30 representatives of various islands and countries were present at this meeting. This meeting turned out to be very valuable. It's really unique to have so many conservationists from different countries sitting around the same table to share information and expertise. When I listened to others I realized once again what a unique situation we have on Bonaire. First of all the close cooperation of the several NGO's on Bonaire is really special. Our excellent managed marine park deserves a lot of attention and of course our own project with it's excellent educational part. The full protection of our Bonairean sea turtles is also something to be proud of. Let me underline though that local protection does not solve the problem. From this meeting it became evident that most countries in the region have a different level of protection. Some have full protection of sea turtles like us, others protect the large sea turtles and others have no protection at all. Since sea turtles are a migratory species, the regional and worldwide protection is crucial. Just to give you an example. The nesting females on Bonaire are protected. After nesting they leave their nesting grounds here on Bonaire and migrate to their feeding grounds. These feeding grounds could be located in a country where protection is absent. As a result other countries could be responsible for the depletion of our nesting population. Of course the capturing of sea turtles here on Bonaire, although illegal, but unfortunately still happening, could influence a population somewhere else in the future. Something to think about.

The actual symposium started on Saturday, February 24th. These four days consisted mainly of listening, listening and listening to interesting and to be honest, sometimes absolutely not interesting presentations. I have gathered so much information in those four days about varying topics such as: physiology, genetics, reproductive behavior, education, leatherbacks, ecology, effects of human activities and so on. I could fill the entire Bonaire Reporter with all that information, but I will limit myself to that information that astonished me the most.

One day was focused on the leatherback turtle. This enormous reptile was already discussed in one of my turtle tales. What really hit me was the prognosis of this turtle. Some scientists already give up the existence of the leatherback in the future. The leatherback population is almost depleted in the Pacific and in 1982 the number of leatherbacks was estimated to be 115.000 (Pritchard) and in 1996 the estimated number was 20.000-30.000 (Spotila). This means a reduction of 80% in a time period of less than 15 years! Let's hope that it's not too late to act and that we are still able to prevent this giant from going extinct.

Another issue concerned longlining. Since a leatherback was caught in al longline recently on Curacao, the use of this method is a serious threat to sea turtles. Since more and more fish stocks in the coastal areas get depleted, more and more fishermen have to go further out to catch fish. Long lining is a method used more and more worldwide and in this region as well. On Costa Rica for example, 7.6 % of their catch consists of sea turtles. Studies are no carried out to diminish the bycatch of sea turtles due to longlining activities.

During the symposium some good presentations were given on the subject of local participation in a sea turtle project. Many good examples were given which proved that local involvement is a prerequisite for a successful project. In several projects once turtle fishermen turned into dedicated sea turtle conservationists. STCB is preparing a new project right now and we are going to need the help, expertise and knowledge of the local community as well.

One of the highlights was my meeting with Karen Eckert. She is such an inspiring and wonderful woman and showed me once again the obligations we have to do more sea turtle research on Bonaire. On Bonaire, with our marine park, with the protection of sea turtles and a good population of hawksbills, we have unique opportunities to initiate a new research project. This turtle project will put Bonaire on the map in the sea turtle world, since projects like this one are rare worldwide.

Overall I can say this was an intensive week. I didn't just gather valuable new information, but also intensified contacts with other sea turtle organizations. More and more I am becoming aware of the need of conservation efforts in protecting not just the sea turtles themselves but also their environment. The future doesn't look pretty, believe me. We were the ones that caused the decline in sea turtle populations and we are the ones who can prevent these animals from going extinct. Let's hope it's not too late. For more information call STCB: 717 5074.
Special thanks to the Packard Foundation and Karen Eckert (WIDECAST).