Guyana has seen a drastic drop in sea turtle births this season despite an overall increase in egg laying which is not enough to counter the effects of human pressure and climate change.
The French department located in South America is a breeding ground for sea turtles. However, over the last fifteen years, the decline of these reptiles remains strong.
“Nestings on the rise, but threats still numerous”, summarizes the Marine Turtle Network of Guyana in its 2023 report, even if it considers “encouraging” the monitoring of egg laying carried out this year on the two main breeding grounds on the Guyanese coast. : the beach of Awala-Yalimapo to the west and those of the Cayennaise agglomeration, to the east, in a report published on October 25.
Leatherback turtles, the most threatened, have laid twice as many eggs with 1,715 nests recorded compared to 828 in 2022. Green turtles, which are 94% concentrated in the west, also show encouraging figures with 1,945 nests recorded compared to 1 727 last year. As for the olive ridley turtle, present only in the east, egg laying is almost equal: 3,675 nests this year compared to 3,723 in 2022. Some hawksbill turtles also laid eggs this season in the east.
“Over the last two or three years, we have seen an increase in egg laying. On the other hand, over a longer time frame – the most important, because turtles live a long time – we can see a sharp decrease over the last fifteen years in the green turtle and a virtual disappearance of the leatherback,” warns Laurent Kelle, director of the WWF. Guyana.
The populations of this imposing turtle have declined by 90% in the Guianas region and came close to extinction in 2020 with 160 nesting recorded in the French department while the Awala-Yalimapo beach was the largest nesting site. world in the 1980s with tens of thousands of clutches.
Hecatomb
In the east, Benoît de Thoisy, president of the Kwata association, which works for the conservation of marine turtles, is worried: despite an increase in egg laying this season, the number of emergences (births) is particularly low, “never seen it” he emphasizes.
With such a volume of clutches, “we should have seen emergences daily. However, for weeks, we did not see a single one. A nesting season has died in the sand, thousands of turtles are missing,” he told AFP.
This massacre is believed to be due to very high mortality rates during the egg incubation period. The heat, particularly high this year under the effect of the El Niño phenomenon, coupled with global global warming, would be responsible.
In the western cross-border area with Suriname, human pressure on turtles is high. This season, 55 nests were poached and four individuals arrested for these acts.
But it is above all the accidental captures of illegal fishermen, “responsible for 30% of strandings” according to the Marine Turtle Network, which represent the greatest threat.
“As it takes 1,000 eggs laid for an adult individual, it is this stage which is the most critical for the reproduction of the species. The challenge is therefore to protect adult individuals in the water,” explains Laurent Kelle.
A no-fishing zone was established twenty years ago in the Maroni estuary “but it is not respected due to lack of sufficient monitoring”, continues Laurent Kelle. “We hope that there will be more checks for the 2024 season.”
According to the WWF, there is an urgent need to act, particularly for lutes. Their situation is so critical that a hatchery was inaugurated in May. This device, which mimics natural conditions and should last “at least three years”, has enabled the emergence of a fifth of the leatherbacks born this year in the Amana nature reserve, created in 1998 to safeguard this emblematic species of Guyana.