<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/08/sri-lanka-sea-turtle-nesting-conservation-development-poaching-illegal-hatcheries-tourist-industry>
"It’s a sweltering night on the western coast of Sri Lanka, and on Mount
Lavinia beach there’s an unusual flurry of activity. Several young people in
orange hi-vis vests are squatting in a circle, digging in the sand in the
semi-darkness.
The team of volunteers is patrolling a popular tourist beach on the outskirts
of Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, scouting for turtle nesting sites. Finding the
nests can involve a bit of detective work.
“We keep searching for [turtle] tracks and then follow the trail,” says
Vikasitha Liyanage, one of the volunteers with the Pearl Protectors, a local
environmentalist group who patrol between 9.30pm and 2am. “Sometimes we dig
holes on the beach to look for the eggs.”
Turtle eggs have long been poached as a food source by coastal communities, but
more recently it is human activity of another kind that has proved a greater
threat. As the city has sprawled, especially during the past decade,
restaurants and other tourist amenities have mushroomed along most parts of the
country’s western coast, bringing in more people.
Along with people come parties, booming music, and much plastic and chemical
waste. All of which disrupts turtle nesting during the breeding season, running
from November to April.
Upul Priyantha Kumara, a restaurant manager, says he has seen for himself the
problem of people crowding the turtles as they come to the beach. “One time,
when a turtle arrived to lay eggs, some children who were having a birthday
party tried to use flashlights and take pictures. The turtle returned to the
sea without laying,” he says.
Aware that life for the turtles was becoming more difficult, Muditha Katuwawala
expanded the activities of the Pearl Protectors, which he coordinates, to
include regular patrols. Working with the coastguard, the volunteers help to
find eggs laid in risky areas and remove them to a safe nesting place on the
beach until they hatch.
Once they hatch the juveniles are given safe passage by night-time patrols.
(The turtles, even if they have hatched in the daytime, will usually wait until
it is cooler before emerging from the sand so it’s more often after dark when
they head for the sea.)"
Via
Fix the News:
https://fixthenews.com/light-into-lightning/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
