by Jane Furchgott

The official ban on sea turtle egg taking, sale and consumption was renewed by the Nicaraguan government last fall. Nevertheless, poaching pressure has been high. MARENA (Nicaragua’s DNR) and the army contained two attempts at invasion of the Chacocente olive ridley nesting beach by outsiders. In response to guard corruption, there has been a complete changeover of the ranger staff at the Chacocente MARENA station. FFI (Fauna and Flora International) will now be partnering with MARENA to monitor the beach and take statistics, increasing the transparency of the turtle protection efforts. About 27,000 olive ridley sea turtles nested at Chacocente during the past season.

FFI scientist José Urteaga says this was the worst nesting season in the six-year history of his leatherback hatchery. It was a strange laying season, with few turtles straggling in later than usual, sometimes in the daylight. He is still waiting for the last leatherback nests to hatch in mid-April. The SCP has been helping pay the eight rotating hatchery workers from the Chacocente community of Veracruz. These men, mostly ex-poachers, find the nests, guard the hatchery, and do the necessary nest monitoring.

Another joint effort of the SCP with FFI has been the national “I Don’t Eat Turtle Eggs” campaign. T-shirts, caps and bumper stickers are imprinted with this message along with a logo showing a baby turtle emerging from its egg. They are being distributed across Nicaragua, along with “We Don’t Serve Turtle Eggs” posters for restaurants.