Help Protect Endangered Sea Turtles in Curacao

This quarter STCC got a great opportunity to collaborate with a Dutch TV program “Klaas kan Alles” (Klaas can do everything) to show the activities the organization undertakes to protect the sea turtles. Klaas kan Alles is a popular family program and is about technology, science and smart gadgets. In every episode Klaas gets a number of exciting assignments that he tries to succeed with the help of technology and science.

Plastic waste in our oceans is a big threat for sea turtles. In order to show Klaas how big of a threat, we organized a beach cleanup at Boca of San Pedro. At this particular inlet on the North coast of Curacao a lot of plastic debris washes up on shore. The TV presenter including the crew were astonished to see the situation. Everyone knows about the plastic soup problem, but it is until you see it with your own eyes and clean it up with your hands, then it really sinks in.  12 volunteers, including a couple of very enthusiastic children collected 130 kilograms of trash that day.

The second day of filming was on a very small uninhabited island near Curacao, Klein Curacao (Little Curacao). On the beaches of Klein Curacao, sea turtles come each year to lay their eggs. STCC monitors and cleans the beach regularly. Klaas had the assignment to spot a turtle and make a good picture of its head. The pattern on the head of a sea turtle is unique. It is a way to identify them.

Participating in this program gave STCC some exposure. The TV program airs every week in the Netherlands.  All of the assignments are uploaded to their Youtube channel, so people can look it up afterwards. This particular episode was viewed almost 11.000 times. After the episode aired, STCC was contacted by a firm and received a donation because of what they saw in this program.

It was two days of intense filming and explaining what STCC does. Everyone had a lot of fun working together. But most important of all, a lot more people are now aware of the plastic pollution, the threat to sea turtles and what STCC does to protect them.

Links:

• Episode Klaas Kan Alles - Snorkelen met schildpadden STCC

Trained and ready to go

Saturday, June 26^th 2021, Sea Turtle Conservation Curaçao (STCC) held its annual volunteer training. This year it was a little later than usual due to Covid-19 and the consequential lockdowns and mobility restrictions. The aim of the training was to (re)familiarize volunteers with the organization, (further) educate them about sea turtles, their lifecycle, behavior and habitat, to train nest monitoring procedures, to brainstorm about current challenges and to provide a space to meet and interact with each other.

A total of nine volunteers participated in the training. The training was facilitated by Sabine Berendse, founder and president of the board of STCC. The group started out in STCC’s education and information center, but due to noise disturbance the training was moved to the headquarters of Green Phenix, the plastic recycling facility to which STCC is closely linked. This gave the volunteers the opportunity to see where the plastic, they work so hard to recycle, is being processed.

Because both new and experienced volunteers partook in the training, the training was very broad. Starting with basic information about sea turtles, such as the different species and the most common ones in the waters around Curaçao, their life cycle and their value to the ecosystem. Continuing with information about STCC, focusing on the three main pillars (research, education and conservation) and the efforts of the new board to restructure the organization. Some time was made to discuss how to deal with persons illegally handling sea turtles, aggressive people, as well as interested onlookers during turtle rescues or monitoring activities.

The highlight of the training was the explanation of how to locate, read and register tracks of a nesting females and hatchlings. Even though this was pure theory, and the real lessons happen outside on the beach, the volunteers were excited. “With this training I am so much better equipped, I am ready to go and monitor the beaches” remarked a new volunteer.

By completing this training STCC’s volunteers are more knowledgeable and better prepared for the weekly beach monitoring rounds.

• STCC_progress_report_Trained_and_ready_to_go.pdf (PDF)