The sea turtle egg donation system in Guatemala.

Introduction: (slides of maps)

The Pacific coast of Guatemala is an important nesting site for the Olive Ridley and Leatherback sea turtles, and also provides a feeding ground for the East Pacific Green turtles at Pozo del Nance. The coast spans 256km from the Mexican, to the El Salvador border and nearly all of this distance is nesting territory.

Up until the early 1980’s, the transportation of sea turtle eggs for sale in the city markets was prohibited and any eggs found by the police on the busses heading for the cities were confiscated and the transporters were fined. However, due to a rapid population growth in many towns along the coast, the government found the ban impossible to control.

In the mid 1980’s, CONAP, the government environment protection agency, initiated an informal donation system to promote a sustainable use for sea turtle eggs. Sea turtle hatcheries were constructed along the coast by CONAP and various NGO’s in order to collect the donations and start the Guatemalan sea turtle protection programme. Still 99.9% of the eggs are removed from the nesting sites but a small amount, maybe 10 or 12% are donated to the hatcheries.

How it works: (slides of poacher with turtle, don Mingo with 4000 eggs)

The local egg collectors sell their clutches of eggs to a local egg buyer, who discounts the 12-egg donation, writes him an official receipt and pays him for the remaining eggs. At 6am each morning the buyers are visited by a hatchery representative, the donated eggs are collected, noted in the daily collections book and then buried in the local hatchery.

At the end of each week or when the buyer has bought a large enough quantity of eggs, he has to obtain a transportation receipt. This official CONAP receipt legally permits the egg buyer to transport and sell his eggs in the city. The receipt is only granted for a quantity relating to the number of donations given to the hatchery. For example if he has given 10 dozen eggs as a donation then the receipt is only written for a maximum of 1000 eggs, making the donation system a minimum of 12%.

SEPRONA, the government environment protection police, routinely patrol early morning buses when leaving the beach, searching baskets and containers for sea turtle eggs as well as other endangered animals. If the egg buyer is caught on route with a quantity of eggs greater than stated on his receipt, then his extra eggs are confiscated for not fully collaborating with the system.

This is the basis of a good system which allows the Guatemalan sea turtles their only form of protection. However, in reality the current level of enforcement by SEPRONA is not enough to ensure this system is functioning at its full potential. The compliance of this system by the egg buyers and the egg collectors on the beach is heavily influenced by the work of the hatcheries within the communities.

The hatcheries: (slides of pics of hatcheries)

Across the Pacific coast there are a varying number of functional projects. Between 18 and 25 hatcheries operate collecting donations. Most of the hatcheries are operating with no scientific background and very minimal employees due to the lack of financial resources. Project Parlama is connecting with all sites to educate and train the local staff in better hatchery management and basic research techniques. The aim of this is to ensure a better understanding of the coasts population trends, how well the donation system is functioning within each community and to icrease hatchery productivity.

It is the hatchery representative’s responsibility to ensure a good relationship with the egg collectors and the egg buyers to ensure there is a good collaboration with this donation system. Education events are essential within the communities at each hatchery site to ensure the understanding of the importance of the donation system to help encourage local sea turtle conservation. A great deal of our education work is out on the beach at night talking to the local egg collectors. Only 3 years ago when I first started the project it was extremely difficult to persuade the local people to make their donations on the beach. After talking with all of the egg collectors over a continued period of time, now they sometimes even run after us with the donation, so we can immediately bury the eggs.

At a few sites along the coast, “Project Parlama” volunteer programs exist, aiding annual egg totals. Volunteers are out on the beach patrolling during the night in the hope of finding a nesting turtle before the local people.

This is usually quite a difficult task due to the quantity of egg collectors patrolling the beach. There are so many local egg collectors that the turtle barely has a chance to reach the top of the beach before someone is there waiting too take her eggs. If nesting turtles are found with local egg collectors waiting for the eggs, we wait for the 12-egg donation and return to the hatchery to bury the fresh eggs.

The introduction of our “sponsor a nest” programme has made a dramatic impact on our annual egg totals by allowing us to purchase fresh eggs directly from the beach, using money raised by volunteers.

 

Figure 1. Annual egg totals in its varying forms.

Feasibility of the donation system in Guatemala:

Introduction:

Even though you would assume that the best way to protect the sea turtle population in Guatemala is to ban the egg market and protect the beaches, several factors need to be taken into consideration.

Temperature study: (slides of temp comparisons, beach/hatchery)

At Parque Hawaii we have been undertaking a temperature study for the last three years. Within this study climate conditions and nest temperatures are recorded 3 times a day at 6am, midday and at 6pm. 3 temperature probes are buried together within the clutches of eggs to record the changing temperatures throughout the 50-day incubation period. These probes are buried 1 at the bottom of the clutch of eggs, 1 in the middle and 1 situated at the top of the clutch of eggs. With these 3 probes we have data to show a good average within the nest.

A control is also buried in the centre of the hatchery at the same 40cm nest depth but without eggs. A beach control is also buried on the beach outside of the hatchery in a typical natural nest position. Control nest temperatures are monitored continually throughout the nesting season.

The temperature probes that are with fresh clutches of eggs are buried at 2-week intervals or so, to show a good relationship in differing parts of the hatchery throughout the entire season

 

Figure 1. Comparing hatchery nest temperatures to natural beach nest temperatures.

The data we have shows the extreme differences between controlled hatchery conditions and the turtle’s natural environment.

Within the hatchery an average of 30 degrees is maintained in the hope of producing a good 50/50 sex ratio. Throughout the season the hatchery roof shading is controlled and during the long hot dry season when the temperatures maintain high, the nests are watered to retain a good humidity level and a more ideal temperature within the nests.

Several times during the season eggs were buried on the beach in a natural nesting position with temperature probes. During the incubation period the temperatures proved to be excessively high resulting in a zero % hatchling success on each occasion. Many days after the average incubation period the eggs were opened and semi-formed hatchlings were found in their early to mid development stage, dead and with big yolk sacks. Maybe the high temperatures were still sufficient enough to form the embryo, but continuing high temperatures cooked the forming turtles. (pic of dead semi formed hatchling). The beach sensors at a natural nest depth but without eggs proved consistently high, with temperatures of 36 degrees or more. This data indicates that the beach may not be ideal to produce a good hatchling rate.

Even if the eggs in the beach nests did reach the fully formed stage, due to the fact the temperatures would still be over the 30c degrees pivotal point, it is fair to assume the nest would be 100% female.

This may not always have been the case, as it appears that the climate has altered significantly over the last 50 or so years. Many of the older townsfolk say that they used to have rains several times a week through several months of the nesting season. Now these storms are very few, thus beach temperatures may be rising due to the lack of rain.

Beach erosion:

Once a week at 11 different marker points spaced at 200m intervals across 2KM of beach, profile recordings are undertaken to understand the changing cycles of the beach. During these studies, beach erosion is also recorded. As we walk the 2km stretch of study area, deep banks of erosion caused by heavy waves and strong tides are marked on the map in different scales of severity. These steep banks of erosion can heavily affect the conditions of nesting sea turtles. For example, if a turtle nests at the bottom of a steep beach cliff, strong waves and currents could push sand back up the beach during the incubation period, covering the nest in up to 2m of sand and resulting in the loss of the entire nest. Equally when the nest is laid before beach erosion occurs, the likelihood of the nests being washed away with the strong waves will surely be increased.

Natural predators:

There are so many local egg collectors patrolling the beach each night that the turtles barely have time to reach the top of the beach before a local person is there waiting for her to lay her eggs. On a normal night we may see 10 collectors per kilometre. At times of high winds when nesting density is higher, we may encounter 50 collectors per kilometre, 15 times the amount of nesting turtles.

With such a high number of egg collectors, it is totally impossible for any of the nests to be intercepted by predators such as dogs, foxes, crabs and sea birds. As all the eggs are removed, there are no natural beach nests, so the number of hatchlings lost through beach depredation is zero.

The socio-economic impact: (crawl count/donations data slide)

The average cost of a dozen eggs is approx $3, although this figure increases towards the beginning and end of the nesting season due to differing levels of supply and demand.

During this 6 month nesting season, at Parque Hawaii crawl counts are undertaken each morning at sunrise. Tracks are counted across an 8KM study area (4KM each side of Parque Hawaii), GPS positions are taken and any nesting evidence erased.

 

 

Figure 3. turtles nested compared to per dozen donations received.

These crawl counts have given us a greater understanding of the size of our population, how well the donation system is functioning and how beneficial sea turtle egg collection is for the local community.

In the nesting season of 2004, across the 8km stretch of study area, 1001 nests were laid. An average of 100 eggs per nest for 1001 nests gives us a total of 100,100 eggs, or 8341 dozen.

JUNE	N/A		0	0	0	0		0
JULY	56		420	48	351	36		855
AUGUST	187		1423	278	491	636		2828
SEPTEMBER	288		2436	809	1763	3058		8066
OCTOBER	261		2238	600	1274	2449		6561
NOVEMBER	152		1018	291	547	1836		3692
DECEMBER	57		66	0	356	0		422
JANUARY	N/A		0	0	250	0		250
TOTALS	1001		7604	2026	5032	8015		22674
	NESTS		EGG DONATIONS	DONATIONS	EGGS	EGGS		ANNUAL
			FROM BUYERS	FROM BEACH	FOUND	BOUGHT		TOTAL

We received a total of 9630 eggs as donations (802 dozen) at a cost to the community of $2138.

The remaining 7539 dozen eggs were sold to the local egg buyers at a profit for the local egg collectors of approximately US$20,104, (using the US$3 average per dozen.) The local egg buyers then transport and sell their cargo eggs at the city markets at an average profit of US$0.75 per dozen. The profit for the egg buyers totals US$5026. This income from sea turtle egg sales generated just for the local community in the season of 2004 totals US$25,758.

The markets then sell the 7539 dozen eggs either singly as a shot with orange juice or in small quantities at a profit of US$1 per egg. We don’t know how many eggs are wasted due to out of date sales, but if we say only 10 eggs out of every dozen are sold then the markets make a profit of US$75,390. If more eggs were out of date and the average profit dropped to only US$0.50 pre egg, the profit would still be an enormous US$37,695. Using these 2 amounts as an average, it would make a market profit of US$56,542. 

Egg trade Hawaii, Guatemala. 8km section of beach
	Quetzales	US$
Egg collectors profit	150,780	20,104
Egg buyers profit	37,695	5,026
Community profit	188,475	25,130
City marketsprofit	424,065	56,542
TOTAL EGG MARKET	612,540	81,672

Figure 1. 8km of sea turtle nests egg profits.

If the sea turtle egg trade was prohibited, total loses for the local community and city markets would be a massive US$82,000. Bearing in mind there is still another 248km of nesting area along the Guatemalan Pacific coast, the total for the sea turtle egg market could be US$2,460,000 (if the nesting density was constant along the coast). It is known that Hawaii receives a higher density of the nesting population but other population studies along the coast are almost non-existent. Only 2 other sites of Project Parlama have sufficient evidence to show this and it proves that there is a varying density of nesting sea turtles.