Shand calls for legal protection for turtles

THE ongoing slaughter of this country’s turtles by callous individuals is an “outrageous, deplorable act which is disrespectful of living things.” This was the view of noted environmentalist Eden Shand in a recent interview with Newsday concerning this ongoing environmental situation. “The slaughtering of turtles by people, apart from the illegality, it’s something to be deplored because it shows a lack of respect for the whole community of life. “One of the guiding principles for civilised behaviour on the part of man is that he have respect and care for the whole community of life and this slaughter is evidence of disrespect.” He said as the situation gets more outrageous and when the leatherback turtles have been classified scientifically as an endangered species, so the lack of respect gets compounded as an endangered species because the wanton slaughter of an endangered species can lead to its extinction. “And we must remember that extinction is forever.” When it goes, it’s gone forever, you will never see another one ever again. That is the seriousness of slaughtering an endangered specie. It vanishes from the face of the earth forever. So the problem can only be solved by legislative reform for the protection of the turtles.” When asked if he thought existing laws should be tightened in terms of implementing a total ban on turtle hunting, he then said it’s a complicated matter.

“There are two Acts that come into place. One is the Fisheries Act and the other is the Conservation of Wildlife Act. When the turtle is at sea, it’s governed by the Fisheries Act and the Fisheries Act is very difficult to enforce because it calls upon you to distinguish between a male turtle and a female turtle. Now, when the fishermen are pulling a net, the net cannot tell the difference between a male turtle and female turtle. I think the act permits you to harvest male turtles, so the solution is to outlaw the harvest of all of the endangered turtles, male or female. When the turtle crawls up on the land to lay its eggs, it’s no longer governed by the Fisheries Act but by the Conservation of Wildlife Act. Therefore, there must be some streamlining of the two pieces of legislation so that the turtle can be properly protected on land and sea.” He also thought that the current killing of the turtles is affecting TT’s reputation abroad as an eco-tourism destination. “Definitely, we’ve seen letters appearing in the newspapers from all over the world. For example, with Tobago, the Tourism Master Plan promoted the island as a tranquil, eco-rich tourism destination. However, the slaughter of the turtles on the beaches of Tobago is incompatible with this promotion that you are trying to promote. So what has to happen is that the Ministry of Tourism has to sit down with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Public Utilities and Environment and work this thing out and come up with an action plan to eliminate this savagery.” Wendy Herron, head of Save Our Seaturtles (SOS) Tobago and a Board member of Environment Tobago, said it is a problem because poaching is prevalent in Tobago. “During the nesting season, there are several areas, more specifically the beaches on the north end of the island, where there are illegal turtle nets and these are green turtles that are being captured on the secluded beaches and the meat is sold locally.

“Then you have the leatherbacks on the south western beaches that are slaughtered or maimed and they breathe to death on the beaches. Sometimes, they’d take the whole turtle but most of the time they’d just maim it and leave it to die.” She said the sad part for her was that Tobago was very much dependent on tourism, so just as other places in the world celebrated whale watching, Tobago also had the ability to celebrate these nesting leatherback turtles through eco-tourism, especially to visitors that come in the months of May and June to see the turtles. “It’s a way of extending Tobago’s tourism season by marketing the turtles into the months of May, June and July. By extending the island’s tourism season, everybody, such as tour guides, hoteliers, taxi-drivers and local businesses, would become stakeholders in keeping the turtles alive. They’d have a longer period of time to make money.” When asked if there should be a total ban on turtle hunting in the country, her reply was firmly in favour of it.
“Yes, definitely, because the leatherbacks fall under endangered species legislation worldwide and as a matter of fact, leatherbacks are critically endangered and their chances of recovery are slim, so the existing national laws  need to be tightened.
“The laws are antiquated compared to the rest of the world.”