Giant Turtle walks the streets of St. Kitts!
By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
 |
|
Mr. Leatherback
|
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS-CHILDREN and adults were astounded recently by the peculiar sight of a six-foot-tall turtle dancing and waving his way around several of St. Kitts’ landmarks.
The turtle’s name is Mr. Leatherback and he paid a visit to St. Kitts as part of his ‘Ten islands in twelve days tour of conservation’ sponsored by the international wildlife protection organization Conservation International.
Accompanying Mr. Leatherback on his journey were Roderick Mast and Bryan Hutchinson, Vice President and Program Officer for Conservation International, respectively.
“We decided to make this pilgrimage down here to the Caribbean to meet firsthand the people out doing the conservation work and data collection that supports our conservation efforts on a global scale,” said Mast.
Dr. Kimberly Stewart, head of the St. Kitts Turtle Monitoring Network, was one of the local conservationists who traveled around with Mr. Leatherback to St. Kitts’ landmarks including The Circus and Brimstone Hill Fortress. “Our group gathers data to get a specific idea about the nesting patterns of turtles here in St. Kitts, which we contribute to the State of the World’s Sea Turtles initiative,” Stewart told SKNVibes.com.
 |
| RoderickMast presents a digital video camera to Dr. Kimberly Stewart |
The representatives from Conservation International said that they were pleased with the efforts Stewart’s research team is taking to preserve endangered turtle species that nest in St. Kitts such as the leatherback and the hawksbill. They also emphasized that conservation is an ongoing process.
“Animals face extinction largely because of human actions,” said Hutchinson. “That is why we tell people about ways they can help protect turtles through simple changes in their lifestyle. This could be something as obvious as not eating turtle meat and eggs, or something a person might not think of, such as plastic bag disposal.
“Leatherback turtles almost exclusively eat jellyfish and when a plastic bag blows into coastal waters from a landfill, a turtle is likely to mistake it for a jellyfish. Obviously, indigestible plastics like this can kill the turtles when they are consumed,” added Mast.
~~Adz:Left~~ Stewart explained the importance of turtles to the marine ecosystem in the Federation. “If we have a decrease in leatherback population we are going to see a large rise in the jellyfish population. This is a problem because the jellyfish kill fish larvae, which in turn affects our fishing industry. It is all an intertwined system.”
The turtle conservationists also stated that it is not their intention to hurt the livelihood of turtle fisherman in St. Kitts & Nevis. Stewart indicated that they are currently training the fishermen to be technicians for the project, doing things like tagging the turtles, taking measurements and leading educational tours of the nesting sites.
Following their tour of the Brimstone Hill Fortress, Mast and Hutchinson donated a digital video camera to Stewart’s team so they could document their work in St. Kitts and upload the content to Conservation International’s sea turtle channel on YouTube.
In addition to St. Kitts, Mast, Hutchinson and Mr. Leatherback plan to travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Martin, Antigua, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, Barbados and Guadeloupe in their whirlwind tour of education and conservation.
