Turtle Project

New Project Our public school projects have come to an abrupt halt as the new government in El Salvador has told our project partners they have no business visiting schools. If we want to help, we should give the money to them (Ministry of Education) and they will decide where and how the money will be spent. We decided to pass on this offer. Turtle conservation project in El Salvador Fundraising has been difficult during Covid, but we have collected $20,000 and have sent the money for the project to begin. What is a turtle project? The locals living on the beaches of El Salvador make a modest living by taking the turtle eggs from their nest and selling the eggs for human consumption. This activity causes stress to the turtle population worldwide. Because of the impact on the turtle population, laws have been passed to make this activity illegal, but enforcement is difficult. Since turtle eggs are protected, we needed permission from the government to proceed. Because our group has done this activity previously, we are known for integrity and we have received approval. How does a turtle project function? The seaside community we selected is in the state of Usulután. While this community itself is very poor, there are area tourist sites, hotel and restaurants serving visitors and a few local residents. The beach selected for the project is 10Km long (about 6 miles). Meetings were held to advise the residents why this project is important and also let them know they have permission to gather turtle eggs but now must sell them to the project. The project pays more for the eggs than the food market. Plus knowing they are helping the environment is another strong incentive for their cooperation. This is all part of the training for the adult participants and the school children. A camp will be built to attend the project 24 hours a day, from August thru January. The corrals currently under construction are to safely re-nest the turtle eggs. Each nest will have a record of the date, type of turtle egg and number of eggs. In 45 days the baby turtles emerge from the nest. They will be placed in plastic tubs for their shells to harden. This takes about 3 days. Once the shells are hardened the turtles have a 90% chance of survival when released into the sea compared to 10% with a soft shell. All these records are required by the government and will be submitted to them at the end of the project. Our project goal is to release 33,124 hatchling sea turtles with that strong survival rate into the ocean. We will keep you informed. David y Nancy