Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire

Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire (STCB) has been protecting Bonaire’s sea turtles since 1991.

Worldwide, six of the seven sea turtle species are classified as threatened or endangered due to human actions and lifestyles. Bonaire is home to three of the world’s six endangered or critically endangered species of marine turtles: the hawksbill, green and loggerhead turtle. STCB uses best practices in science and conservation to build knowledge and protection of Bonaire’s sea turtles. • Between January and April, STCB conducts snorkel surveys along the west coast of Bonaire and around Klein Bonaire to count sea turtles and several other species. This research yields important information over time about the population status of green and hawksbill turtles. • During the nesting season (May-November), STCB staff and volunteer Beachkeepers patrol the beaches most used by sea turtles, recording signs of nesting and hatching as well as monitoring the safety status of nests. New nests are marked, so that they can be monitored closely during the incubation period of 50-60 days. Hatched nests are excavated to make an inventory of the contents and to collect data, such as the hatching success, that will help the organization protect nests even better in the future. • STCB also conducts net-capture surveys and tagging programs to gather information on sea turtles in the waters surrounding Bonaire, including green turtles living in turtle hotspot Lac Bay. These efforts provide the organization with valuable data over time to help determine growth rates of sea turtles and estimate abundance, movement patterns and the health status of Bonaire’s resident turtles.

Support STCB: join a nest patrol, a clean-up (dive), a free public presentation or visit the office.

If you are visiting Bonaire and would like to learn more about Bonaire’s sea turtles, you can visit STCB’s office at Kaya Korona 53 or join one of their free public presentations. The presentations take place every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, 8:00pm at the Yellow Submarine. Or, if you are here during the sea turtle nesting season and would like to experience STCB’s workat first hand, you can join STCB for a nest monitoring patrol on Bonaire’s main nesting site, Klein Bonaire. The patrols are scheduled for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and a reservation is required. Advanced divers can also help out by participating in a Fishing Line Clean-Up Dive, thereby protecting sea turtles from entanglement in discarded fishing line, hooks, nets and other debris. You may also find ’TAngler Bins’, pvc-pipes specially constructed to be used as collection bins for fishing line, at popular fishing spots and dive sites. You are encouraged to deposit all waste fishing line, hooks, lures and nets into the bins. You can also support the work of STCB by buying their unique merchandise. Their t-shirts, necklaces, research hats and more are available at the STCB office and at several vendors around the island. Or, adopt a sea turtle hatchling or an entire nest! Your donation allows STCB to relocate nests that are in danger of drowning and rescue newborn turtles that become wrapped in roots during hatching.

www.bonaireturtles.org - @bonaireturtles – Kaya Korona #53 +599 717 2225 [office] / +599 780 0433 [Hotline]