Turtle tagged and released on Pinney’s Beach
By Jaedee S.K. Caines
Nevis Reporter, SKNVibes.com
CHARLESTOWN, Nevis - THE Four Seasons Resort, Nevis (FSRN) in collaboration with the Caribbean Conservation Corporation (CCC) and the Nevis Turtle Group (NTG) yesterday morning named and released a Hawksbill Sea Turtle in the presence of a large and appreciative crowd on the south side of the Four Seasons pier on Pinney’s Beach.
Guests and staff of the resort along with Nevisian children currently enrolled in the third annual Sea Turtle Camp gathered at the beach to witness the tagging, naming and releasing of the turtle.
Hibiscus, as it was named by the children, was found nesting on Jones Bay on Monday, July 21 at approximately 11:00 p.m. by founder and President of the NTG Lemuel Pemberton.
Pemberton gave an update on what his organisation is doing in relation to the turtles on Nevis.
“There is a programme we have in the Caribbean where we are trying to find out if the sea turtles are related to each other that nest on the different islands.
“There is one student who is presently at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus in Barbados and he is working with sea turtles from St. Kitts and Nevis, from Grenada and from Barbados to see if there is any kind of interrelationship between these turtles,” he said. 
Executive Director of the CCC David Godfrey and his team were also present and he informed how the turtle was captured.
“We were out last night working with a bunch of volunteers with the Nevis Turtle Group and some volunteers from our organisation. We found the turtle when it was nesting and so we let it finish nesting. So she got her eggs in the sand and when she was all done and getting ready to head back to the water, we detained her and put her safely in the box. This morning we’re applying a satellite transmitter to her back. It will allow us to monitor the turtle’s migration for at least two years,” Godfrey said.
In the meantime, Supervisor of the Kids For All Seasons (KFAS) Department at FSRN and Coordinator of the Sea Turtle Camp Barbara James spoke about this year’s camp.
“It is very good that on the first day of the camp the kids get to see the turtle that we found last night on Jones Beach and see it being released.
“We are gonna have 80 kids this year. As a matter of fact we have three days this week. We have a session in the morning from nine to 12, a session in the afternoon from 100: p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and then next week Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we’re gonna have another session in the morning and in the afternoon. So we are trying to at least cater for 80 kids,” James said.
The Sea Turtle Camp targets Nevisian children aged nine to 16 years and runs for two weeks with two sessions per day. This year’s camp started yesterday [July 22] and will end on July 30. The sessions are held at the Four Seasons Resort and are geared towards sensitising children about the “threats to survival that have landed them (sea turtles) in danger of extinction”.
According to Tara MacIntyre of the Four Seasons Public Relations Department, there would be a Caribbean launch of Tour de Turtles on August 1, where two Nevisian turtles along with six others from Panama, Florida and Costa Rica would partake in a 2.620 km marine marathon in an effort to continue to raise awareness about the threats currently being faced by turtles.
Through the GPS satellite transmitter that was placed on Hibiscus yesterday morning, persons will be able to track the location and range of movements of the sea turtle by logging on to www.cccturtle.org.
General Manager of FSRN and Regional Vice President Andrew Humphries along with the island’s reigning queen, who is also an employee at the hotel, Shannecia Demming, attended the event.
Demming announced the name given to the turtle to those who had gathered for the event. ~~Adz:Right~~
