Outcry over turtles

Turtles swam with the dinosaurs but they now face extinction. Both local activists and visitors to Trinidad and Tobago are expressing shock that turtles are being killed for meat. They are urging action to protect the several types of turtles which have globally been listed as endangered.

Several people told Newsday of their shock at stumbling across the carcasses of slaughtered turtles on the beaches of both Tobago and Trinidad. Visiting from Massachusetts, USA, Matt Kelly recounted his horror at personally witnessing the slaughter of a turtle in Tobago. “Right before our eyes, some fishermen landed their boat and took out a furiously struggling green turtle. They had caught the hapless creature in a net stretched across the well-known beds of ancestral feeding grounds of this now endangered sea-turtle. The fishermen announced they were planning to eat it. One member in our group offered to buy the turtle from the fishermen to set it free, but to no avail”. Zoologist and former Senator Prof Julien Kenny condemned what he called “a culture of destruction” that had  led to this common slaughter. He urged a complete ban on hunting turtles. Kenny remarked: “It is tragic that there is no real outcry in this society”. 

Tanya Clovis of NGO “Save Our Sea-turtles (SOS) Tobago” suggested a reason for the high slaughter of turtles in Tobago. She observed: “We have seen an increase in the popularity of wild meat including turtles in the past two years, including at social events like “Harvest” in Tobago. It’s hard to stop people hunting turtles because of lack of manpower to enforce. There is ambiguity in the laws on hunting in the open season. It is a shocking thing to see and until you see a turtle being taken, you don’t really grasp it”. Clovis said our local laws are not in line with Trinidad and Tobago’s obligations under international conservation treaties like CITES and the Cartagena Convention. She  added: “And even if we had stronger laws, there is the question of enforcement”. The “Pointe-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust” headed by Molly Gaskin and Kathryn Sheppard supported the call for more protection for turtles.

Gaskin said that the slaughter of turtles had stepped up in the last two years. The north coast of Trinidad had seen much slaughter in areas like Blanchisseuse, Madamas, Toco and Salibia. “These are the reports we have been getting from people living in those areas,” she explained.  Gaskin blamed the increased slaughter on the lack of official support for community groups which ran conservation patrols. Gaskin said the two laws on turtles were contradictory.  One law defines a turtle as a fish when it was well out to sea, allowing it to be hunted — the Fisheries Act. Another law regards it as a reptile which along with some other species could enjoy the protection of game wardens - Wildlife Act. In conclusion Matt Kelly urged quick action to save not just the turtles but also the good name of Tobago as a  eco-tourism destination. “How can Tobago continue to be considered an eco-destination mecca, when the slaughter of endangered sea-turtles continues there unabated?, “ he pondered.