For the past two months, I have been busy learning so much about Isla Saona: the history, the people, their way of life, potiential projects, how tourism works out there, the special laws (because it is a national park), and exploring the beaches. The best project that is on the island is the sea turtle conservation project…
All seven types of sea turtles are endangered species. There are three types (Hawksbill, Green, and Leatherback) of sea turtles that come to the south side of Isla Saona to lay their eggs. Each female turtle climbs up on shore during the night, digs a hole using it’s flippers, waits, gives birth to about 100-150 eggs, and then swims back out to sea. During a season, a female turtle can do this ritual three to eight times. The gestation period depends on the type of turtle, but after about two months, the baby turtles hatch during the night, break through to the surface, and follow the light (the moon reflected off of the water) to the ocean.
There are two times when the baby turtles are very vulnerable to predators (lizards, birds, crabs, etc.). Once when they are still in the eggs after the mother leaves (sometimes sand is washed away by high waves and the eggs are exposed) and, or course, when the baby turtles are crawling to sea.
A man named Negro runs a one man operation in Mano Juan to help the survival rate of the sea turtles. He has two main goals (1) population growth and (2) a census (monitoring how many baby turtles make it out to sea). Negro goes out during the night, collects the eggs from the shore, and brings them back to the center. He buries them in sand in a cooler, and marks the cooler with the type of turtle, how many eggs there are, the date he collected them, and the beach where he found them. Then he waits until they hatch and when they are ready to go to sea, he takes them back to the beach where he found them and lets them go out to sea.
However, Negro isn’t just fighting against crabs and lizards, he’s also fighting against one of the worst predators in the world…man. Negro tells me that the people of Mano Juan understand and don’t bother the eggs. However, people come in during the night from Bayahibe and La Romana to steal the eggs and also capture the female turtles. Turtle eggs are a delicacy to eat and sometimes are also sold to tourists. The turtles are captured to sell or to kill for their shells (to make jewelry and crafts) and for their meat. He says that because it is only him running the operation it is hard to catch the people, and that it’s very sad when he gets to a beach and the only thing he finds are dug up nests.
Even though it is inspiring to see Negro get so passionate about the project and very cool to know that there is such a project, it is very sad to know that men are continuing to not care about the species and only care about making a buck.
I really want to learn about the project more and how I can help. I will keep you updated.
