“We are looking for volunteers to help us continue monitoring the 2018 nesting season for marine turtles in Saint-Martin” indicated the Réserve Naturelle Nationale de Saint-Martin (RNNSM) on August 3 on its Facebook page. .
Since 2008, the management team of the National Nature Reserve has coordinated a network of ecovolunteers making it possible to document the intensity of the spawning activities on the beaches of Saint-Martin and to follow its evolution from year to year. “2018 is a pivotal year following the impact of Irma for all wild populations, but also a year when it is difficult to mobilize volunteers” she notes.
Indeed, as Julien Chalifour, head of the Missions and Scientific Monitoring Department at RNNSM, explains, “all the beaches have been altered due to the swell”. Since Irma, the beaches have therefore changed in appearance. In addition, all these disturbances were felt on the scale of the entire Caribbean and the turtles which come to lay were certainly affected upstream by the cyclonic phenomena. A set of parameters which lets the scientist suppose the possibility of “turtle behavior different from normal and therefore interesting to observe in order to characterize the behavioral response of turtles following a major event and possibly adapt our management”.
The reserve is looking for people willing to learn more about marine turtles and to contribute to the sustainability of this program of production of knowledge essential to the conservation of these species.
If you can make yourself available once a week to patrol a beach, you can contact the Reserve at the following address: science@rnsm.org. (Photo credits: RNNSM)
(Source: www.soualigapost.com)
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