Protected the Sea Turtles of Barbados by Shana Jones
Precious and
Protected the Sea Turtles of Barbados by Shana Jones
One evening as I was nearing the end of my jog on the boardwalk on Barbados ’ south coast , I noticed a crowd gathering and peering intently at something in the sand just up ahead . Small pockets of people dotted a rough line crossing my path from one side of the boardwalk to the other , cresting a small sand hill and continuing towards the sea . My mildly aroused curiosity was tempered by an urgency to get to my car because the looming greyness overhead had started to shower lightly .
Upon reaching the crowd , the reason for the fuss was revealed : some baby sea turtles had just emerged from a nearby nest and the hatchlings were making their way to the sea ! So many thoughts came to mind as I viewed the tiny black specks scampering frantically towards the water : awe at new life , wonderment at the long journey ahead , and shock at their vulnerability , to name a few . The rain now a distant memory , I shuffled to get a good viewing point while some trained their cameras and others ( volunteers , I would soon discover ) re-directed some disoriented hatchlings back on track to the water . We all stood captivated , forming a cheering section of sorts , and waited until the last of the stragglers touched water and was swept away by a gentle wave . predation by stray dogs is a real threat . After the 55- 75-day incubation period , the hatchlings dig their way out of the nest over a 2-4-day period and then follow the light of the ¨brightest horizon¨ towards the sea . When that ¨brightest horizon¨ is caused by car lights or the flash of photography , they become disoriented and risk being run over by vehicles or eaten by crabs or stray animals . It is this same sensitivity to light that may scare a nesting turtle back to the sea , causing her to abandon the nesting process . The 1 sea turtle in 1000 that survives the 25-30 years into adulthood may get caught in fishing nets and accidentally be drowned .
I later found out that sea turtles are a critically endangered species ( approaching a ¨very high risk of extinction¨ , according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature ), and so episodes such as this one I witnessed are very important to increasing the turtle population . The odds of survival for sea turtles are daunting : from the time a mother turtle digs her nest in the sand ( about 50 cm in depth ) and deposits her eggs ,
Shana shares other travel stories on her Blog , The Roaming Aviatrix - www . roamingaviatrix . com
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