Every year, many turtles are killed in Tobago to satisfy our seemingly endless appetite for ‘wildmeat’ and this year seems to be no different. In one week alone, three pregnant, female Leatherback turtles were slaughtered at Speyside, Bacolet and Turtle Beach, their carcasses left to rot in the sun. In the case of the Bacolet turtle, one of the biggest recorded in recent times, only her flippers were removed and she was left gasping for breath on her back until she bled to death. The Turtle Beach turtle was killed only 300 metres from the Rex Turtle Beach Hotel revealing the other side of our supposedly ‘eco-friendly’ island to a number of horrified Virgin Airlines visitors. Will this senseless killing stop before it is too late?
Sea turtles have been a traditional food source in the Caribbean since Amerindian times. However, as the number of people dining on turtle increased, the number of turtles decreased. An increase in human activities, both on and around the sea, has also contributed to the decline; pollution, coastal development and the commercial fishing industry have all, inadvertently, taken their toll on the fragile sea turtle population. Most sea turtles take up to 25 years to reach sexual maturity and they are now dying faster than they can reproduce. Leatherbacks, Hawksbills and Green turtles are all found in Tobago and are all facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future. Unless our attitudes and habits change drastically, we are going to lose our turtles forever.
Take for example the Leatherback, the largest and most migratory of our sea turtles. Leatherbacks travel extensively throughout the Atlantic coming into Caribbean waters between March and July to breed. Leatherbacks are now critically endangered due mainly to poaching (illegal hunting) and accidental entanglement in commercial deep sea fishing equipment such as longlines; recent studies show that they could be completely extinct within the next thirty years. Tobago is one of the only Caribbean islands that Leatherbacks nest on and given their increasingly endangered status, we bear a huge responsibility to the entire Atlantic Leatherback population to provide safe breeding grounds so that this species may have a chance to replenish itself.
Sea turtles have played a critical role in the ocean’s food chain for millions of years, their decline and eventual extinction has serious consequences for the sea upon which we depend for recreation and food. Leatherbacks feed almost exclusively on jellyfish, eating up to twice their body weight each day in the soft bodied and often poisonous jellies. Jellyfish themselves have been known to feed on the eggs and larvae of spawning fish as well as on the plankton that would otherwise nourish the surviving baby fish. Swarming jellyfish are now being blamed for destroying fish farms throughout the North Atlantic and preventing fisheries recovery in areas that have suffered from overfishing. Right here in Tobago, the jellyfish swarms this year were responsible for clogging seines and they held more poisonous Man’o’War jellyfish than any in recent memory. Without Leatherbacks, the jellyfish population thrives, not only endangering local and visiting bathers, but also our invaluable fisheries.
Our insatiable desire for ‘wildmeat’ in every harvest pot, is destroying what is left of our wildlife and may well eventually destroy the very fishing and tourism industries that we depend on for survival. Sea turtles are just one more critical part of the web of plants and animals that makes Tobago beautiful and unique. Without this natural abundance and variety we would be living on nothing more than a barren rock in an empty sea with only ourselves for company… with only ourselves to blame.
Sea turtles have been a traditional food source in the Caribbean since Amerindian times. However, as the number of people dining on turtle increased, the number of turtles decreased. An increase in human activities, both on and around the sea, has also contributed to the decline; pollution, coastal development and the commercial fishing industry have all, inadvertently, taken their toll on the fragile sea turtle population. Most sea turtles take up to 25 years to reach sexual maturity and they are now dying faster than they can reproduce. Leatherbacks, Hawksbills and Green turtles are all found in Tobago and are all facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future. Unless our attitudes and habits change drastically, we are going to lose our turtles forever.
Take for example the Leatherback, the largest and most migratory of our sea turtles. Leatherbacks travel extensively throughout the Atlantic coming into Caribbean waters between March and July to breed. Leatherbacks are now critically endangered due mainly to poaching (illegal hunting) and accidental entanglement in commercial deep sea fishing equipment such as longlines; recent studies show that they could be completely extinct within the next thirty years. Tobago is one of the only Caribbean islands that Leatherbacks nest on and given their increasingly endangered status, we bear a huge responsibility to the entire Atlantic Leatherback population to provide safe breeding grounds so that this species may have a chance to replenish itself.
Sea turtles have played a critical role in the ocean’s food chain for millions of years, their decline and eventual extinction has serious consequences for the sea upon which we depend for recreation and food. Leatherbacks feed almost exclusively on jellyfish, eating up to twice their body weight each day in the soft bodied and often poisonous jellies. Jellyfish themselves have been known to feed on the eggs and larvae of spawning fish as well as on the plankton that would otherwise nourish the surviving baby fish. Swarming jellyfish are now being blamed for destroying fish farms throughout the North Atlantic and preventing fisheries recovery in areas that have suffered from overfishing. Right here in Tobago, the jellyfish swarms this year were responsible for clogging seines and they held more poisonous Man’o’War jellyfish than any in recent memory. Without Leatherbacks, the jellyfish population thrives, not only endangering local and visiting bathers, but also our invaluable fisheries.
Our insatiable desire for ‘wildmeat’ in every harvest pot, is destroying what is left of our wildlife and may well eventually destroy the very fishing and tourism industries that we depend on for survival. Sea turtles are just one more critical part of the web of plants and animals that makes Tobago beautiful and unique. Without this natural abundance and variety we would be living on nothing more than a barren rock in an empty sea with only ourselves for company… with only ourselves to blame.
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