A cry for help written by Daniel on October 2009. “Is there still time?”
With a pen in hand I start to write some words that I believe are good for the future because the problems are very strong when I write this.
I am referring to the turtles that today are being exploited at 100% this is very dangerous because when there are no young the population is going to disappear this is because of the eating of the turtle eggs it is commercialized in the town of Cambutal through massive illegal trade and no cooperation with nature organizations in the case of the turtles.
When we arrived in Cobachon in 1977 this resource was not exploited. When one travels from Cambutal to Cobachon one could see a great number or turtle nests in the Horcona beach. We are talking about 90 -120 turtles in the night. These nests were very good . They had up till a 100 % in some cases this percentage could go down but even though the lowest percentage from the Horconas beach were not lower than 80 % and only in that year it was used as a consumption for the people themselves and only for that reason and not for the commerce.
This was only in the Horconas beach without mentioning the Punta Blanca beach and the Playa Verde. In these beaches (playa Blanca and playa Verde) a number of turtles hatched just like in the Horcona beach in Punta Blanca in one night there were around 20 – 30 turtles and they were the same of the Horcona beach. These turtles were on the beaches on good days up to a 100% and in some days … could go lower to 85% In playa Verde there were between 22 – 20 turtles in this beach. Always up to a 100% and some cases could lower up to 80%. Already in this beach families lived and they picked up eggs for household consumption not for commerce.
Today when I write about the turtles on the three beaches I mentioned all are under commercial trade and they are being exploited up till a 100%.
Here I mention that the beaches of Horconas, Punta Blanca and Playa Verde without mentioning Porto Bello that turtles hatched in the years 1977 until 1987 and the population was good but after these years the turtles started declining a lot so that there will be in this year only in total 25% ; that is very bad because over the declination of this percentage that remains is under the focus of trade. Meanwhile the authorities of ARAP do not do anything.
We still have time but the guilty ones disappear under the authorities of today
It was surprising that in spite of all the people, not only watching Jaime when he removed the hook but also watching the proces of laying eggs, there were almost 100 eggs.
Daniel explained that in order to save some of the eggs from poachers he takes them to the beach near his house where they can develop in peace. The removal has to be done within 13 hours. When the eggs are removed it is important to mark (with a soft pencil) the top of the eggs and to place the eggs in exactly the same position as one did find them.Because of the lag of time (the laying occured in the evening) Daniel decided to leave the eggs in nest and hope for the best. When I took a swim the next morning I saw a lot of dogs from the village on the beach that I had never seen there before. Maybe not only poachers but also dogs find the eggs. Which is not so surprising because most of the dogs I saw were hardly fed.
Audio Tortugas marinas
Las tortugas comienzan a llegar entre julio y agosto, ya para septiembre, octubre y noviembre vienen grupos más grandes y se dan las arribadas. Sin embargo pueden verse aun en diciembre, enero, febrero, marzo y abril pero solo una o dos al mes porque no es su temporada.
Chelonia mydas agassizii anida más en los meses de verano, llega solo a Playa Verde, no ha Cobachón. Playa verde se encuentra aproximadamente a 1 kilómetro.
La última baula (Dermochelys coriacea) que vi fue hace 15 años en Playa Verde, no se si será porque ya no vienen o se están extinguiendo.
La única especie de tortuga marina que llega a Cobachón es la tortuga olivácea (Lepidochelys olivácea).
Se da la depredación de los huevos de tortuga por parte de las personas y animales domésticos. Las personas cogen los huevos para venderlos, además los perros también sacan los nidos para comerlos.
Audio – translated:
The turtles begin to arrive between July and August, and by September, October and November larger groups arrive. However they can be seen even in December, January, February, March and April but only one or two a month because it is not their season.
Chelonia mydas agassizii nests more in the summer months, only reaches Playa Verde, not to Cobachón. Pllaya vede is approximately 1 kilometer away from Cobachon.
The last leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) that I saw was 15 years ago in Playa Verde, I don’t know if it is because they are no longer coming or that they are becoming extinct.
The only species of sea turtle that reaches Cobachón is the olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivácea).
Predation of turtle eggs occurs by people and domestic animals. People take the eggs to sell them, in addition the dogs also take out the nests to eat them.