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Four species of marine turtles are known to nest in the Bocas del Toro Archipelago. These include the green turtle (Chelonia mydas), loggerhead (Caretta caretta), leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) and hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata). Among these, hawksbill and green turtle were historically very common and the Bocas del Toro region had been cited as one of the most important nesting sites for hawksbill and green turtles in the western hemisphere. As little as 40 years ago, hawksbill were still abundant in the waters of the archipelago. Due to the over harvest of both turtle eggs and adult turtles for their meat and shell, their populations have been greatly diminished in the archipelago. To what extent their populations have declined is unknown because no formal estimate of population size has been made. Leatherbacks remain plentiful in the region and nest on many area beaches. However, even nesting leatherbacks are killed for the eggs the contain. Understanding the current nesting population size for sea turtles represents the first step in developing long-range plans for their conservation, recovery and maintenance in this region. Alternative activities that may relieve turtle poaching pressure and help reestablish historic population levels include child and adult conservation education, iguana farming, turtle head start program, and the promotion of indigenous and regional folk art.
The long term goals of the turtle program are to:
Program ScheduleITEC's Marine Turtle Program runs from February to September. The project director will be on site for the entire period. The period of work for volunteer Research Assistants (RAs) will depend on how much time they have available, but will be at least four weeks. Contact Pete Lahanas at ConservationProgram@itec-edu.org for further information. Program PersonnelIn this year's program, there will be 15 to 20 ITEC turtle project research personnel, depending on volunteer schedules. These include Cristina Ordońez (ITEC marine turtle program director) and 10 to 15 volunteer RAs at any point in time. Cristina's function will be to direct the proposed turtle monitoring, schedule RA rotations among beaches, transport personnel to beach sites and organize materials and provisions for the RAs. Primary duties of RAs would be to collect field data and tag turtles. Secondary duties may involve activity in community education and other conservation programs. Type of Work InvolvedThe group of RAs and project director will reside in the town of Bocas del Toro, and rotate among various remote field locations on fixed schedules. The remote sites include Changuinola Beach on the north mainland and Long Beach on Isla Bastimentos, Zapatilla Cay beach and Chiriqui Beach on the south mainland. Transport to other beaches will be by boat from the city of Bocas del Toro or from the Bocas del Toro Biological Station. The turtle crew will remain at these remote sites for the duration of the rotation interval. While at the remote sites, turtle personnel will live in rustic accommodations and prepare meals for themselves. Diurnal Activities These activities include the placement and painting of kilometer markers along beaches (first part of season) and conducting track surveys. Turtle track surveys are designed to estimate the degree to which local beaches are used as rookeries, and will be conducted every three days. Based on track characteristics, tracks will be scored according to species (leatherback, green, hawksbill and loggerhead) and whether a nest was made (nesting emergence) or not (non-nesting emergence or "false crawl"). The location of each track will be recorded as well as the incidence of predation or poaching. These data will provide needed information on relative numbers of nesting and non-nesting emergences of each of the four turtle species, their nesting distribution along and among the four beaches and their respective relative population sizes. Nocturnal Activities The tagging of turtles will be conducted at night (between 1800-0500 h). Two nightly tagging teams of three persons each will patrol each of the beaches. After recording vital biometric data on nesting females, such as turtle size, clutch size, nest location, etc., metal tags will be attached to the posterior flippers (leatherback) or in a similar position on the anterior flippers (hawksbill, green, loggerhead). Through the recapture of tagged individuals, movement patterns, nesting frequency, and harvest pressure (via tag returns) can be determined. Local Education and Community ServiceAn integral part of ITEC's conservation program is the involvement of the local community. Without local involvement, our ability to effect conservation in the area is greatly reduced. This is because it is primarily the local population that overexploits the natural resources of the area, such as the logging of trees for lumber, pasture or crop conversion, or in the taking of fish, lobster, crab or sea turtles. Although marine turtles, their eggs and products (oils, tortoiseshell jewelry) are strictly protected by Panamanian law, there is essentially no enforcement even within the national parks and preserves. This is due to many influences including corruption and lack of funds, and to the local culture's longtime inclusion of sea turtle in their diets. Thus it is incumbent on us to accept the responsibility to teach conservation ethics and to provide employment opportunities to the local community that have minimal environmental impact. ITEC community education programs are directed at both children and adults. The children's program includes lectures and seminars that teach basic ecology and conservation ethics. Both the local school in Bocas del Toro and outlying regional schools on other islands are targeted. In particular, the students in these outlying schools are the most important for us to reach. This is because these schools are almost wholly comprised of indigenous Ngöbe children, whose parents do the lion's share of over-exploitation. Teaching conservation ethics and land use alternatives to these children is imperative if we hope to effect conservation in the future. Activities for children also include field trips to turtle nesting beaches, the painting of refuse barrels with conservation slogans, beach cleanups, Forest Restoration projects, etc. Adult education is directed toward providing employment alternatives. These include the training of local nature, turtle, and dive guides, the promotion of sustainable land use and promotion of folk art. This year's program will consist of the project leaders, and up to three volunteer Teaching Assistants (TAs). The TAs will travel about the Bocas del Toro Archipelago to teach in local schools with the project leaders, who are fluent in both English and Spanish. Four to five days will be spent at each school. Conservation Program ParticipationVolunteers are sought as Research Assistants or Teaching Assistants in the marine turtle, local education, and the forest restoration programs. Unpaid internships are also available in each program. The duration of participation varies depending on the program, but are generally during the months May through August. RAs and TAs will provide their own transportation to and from Panama (see section titled, Getting to the Bocas del Toro Biological Station). ITEC will cover local transportation, and most of your food and lodging. All volunteer RAs and TAs are expected to contribute $50 per week ($120 for the turtle program) to offset costs for food and lodging. These programs are demanding physically and mentally. Participants will live together in rustic accommodations, occasionally provide meals for themselves and be expected to walk several miles each day in connection with their work, regardless of weather conditions. If you are interested in participating in any of these programs, please fill out the application at the end of this information packet and return it to: Conservation
Programs Please Note: These programs are very popular and therefore necessarily competitive. Regular RA positions are generally filled by December the preceding year. Thus, applications received in 2009 will be considered for summer of 2010, those received after 1 January 2010 will be considered for summer of 2011.Updated 7 January, 2009 |
