Sea Turtles on Santo Antao

So here´s my attempt at a more professional writing style. I did research and everything.

Sea Turtles on Santo Antao

For four months during the summer, the beaches on the Cape Verdian island of Santo Antao (and most of the other islands of Cape Verde) serve as the nesting grounds for as many as five different species of Sea Turtles, most commonly the Tartaruga Parda (Dark Sea Turtle, [Dermochelys coriacea], and Tartaruga Verde (Green Sea Turtle, [Chelonia mydas]), the latter reaching up to a meter and a half in length, and weighing in at as much as 250 kg. Beginning in June and continuing through the end of September, the turtles make their way across hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles of open ocean to Cape Verde, where they lay their eggs on the exact same beaches that they themselves hatched from. Exactly how they manage this incredible feat of navigation remains a mystery.

What is known is that the female turtles arrive, always under cover of night, to begin the arduous process of making their way up the shore, using their powerful flippers to dig out a nest approximately 3 feet squared, and then laying anywhere from 15 to 30 eggs. Once finished, all parenting duties for the exhausted mother are complete, and she’ll return to the ocean, never to see her eggs or offspring again. Approximately fifty days later, the eggs will hatch, and with a little luck, the tiny turtles will make their way to the ocean. Reaching the water is only the first part of a long and difficult journey to adulthood, and it is estimated that for every five hundred eggs laid, only one will survive to reproduce.

Such poor odds make the continued presence of Cape Verde’s sea turtles a precarious one. To compound the problem, historically, turtles in Cape Verde were seen as a valuable and sought-after commodity. Until recently, they were hunted for their meat, which was used in stews, their shells which were used to make combs and other craftworks, and their eggs for use in soups. Of particular value were the genitalia of the male turtles, which are reported to be powerful aphrodisiacs. Such practices, combined with the turtles’ already poor odds of survival, made the continued presence of Cape Verde’s sea turtles a precarious one.

Enter the I.N.D.P. (Instituto Nacional de Desenvolvimento das Pescas, National Institute for the Development of Fishing). While their projects are not strictly limited to the protection of sea turtles, this nationally funded organization, which was created in 1992 and falls under the banner of the Ministerio de Educacao e Valorizacao das Recursos Marinos (Ministry of Education and Appreciation of Marine Resources), has begun to turn the tide in favor of the turtles through a series of projects aimed at increasing Cape Verdians’ awareness of the importance of preserving this fragile national resource. Using a network of volunteers and paid employees, teams of I.N.D.P. workers take watch over the beaches during the nesting season, cataloging and frequently tagging each arrival and nesting site, often sleeping on the beaches while documenting everything from the type, size and weight of the turtles to the number eggs and probable hatching date, and erecting secure net barriers and signs around the nests to alert people of the presence of the eggs. Other projects include environmental awareness seminars, the construction of small, elevated “secure beaches” to prevent poachers, producing flyers, pamphlets and videos, emphasizing the value of the turtles as a tourist attraction, organizing beach clean-ups, and even hosting an annual “Turtle Introduction Day,” where new hatchlings are brought to local primary schools for the kids to “meet,” after which they have the opportunity to release them into the sea. Thanks in part to the efforts of the I.N.D.P., the government of Cape Verde passed Decreto regulamentar #7 on December 30th, 2002, which established the protection of, and prohibits by law, the capture or killing of any of the seven species of sea turtle found in Cape Verde. Through the hard work and dedication of these conscientious Cape Verdians, visitors to the islands will continue to have the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of these scarce and intriguing creatures of the sea.

For more in formation on the I.N.D.P., the Cape Verdian sea turtles, or other environmental projects currently under way in Cape Verde, call or write the I.N.D.P. headquarters on Sao Vicente at:

I.N.D.P
C.P. 132
Mindelo
Sao Vicente
Cape Verde

Telephone: (+238) 232-1370
Fax: (+238) 232-1616
E-Mail: oscar@indp.cv