Kralendijk– Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire (STCB) is excited about the fact that the first nests of the 2019 sea turtle nesting season have hatched. The first hatchlings, 114 loggerheads, headed to the water on June 21^st.

STCB expects the first hawksbill nest to hatch this week.

Each year, an average of 100 sea turtle nests is laid on the beaches of Bonaire and Klein Bonaire. During the nesting season, STCB-trained volunteers patrol the beaches every morning, looking for sea turtle tracks and other signs of turtle activity. If a nest is found, trained volunteers and STCB staff locate the egg cavity, which contains between 100 and 200 eggs, depending on the sea turtle species. The nest is then marked, so it can be monitored daily during the incubation period of 50-60 days, to ensure that the nest remains safe and undisturbed.

Companies, friends and families help STCB keep the eggs safe by adopting the nests laid by (critically) endangered green, hawksbill and loggerhead turtles. With their support, STCB monitors the nesting beaches, places barriers around nests that need additional protection and collects data that help determine, amongst others, the hatching success of the nests.

Bonaire residents and tourists can also support the conservation work of STCB, and learn more about Bonaire’s nesting population at the same time, by joining a sea turtle nest monitoring patrol on Klein Bonaire. Between May and November, STCB conducts patrols three times a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. During these patrols, you can help STCB’s turtle experts look for new activities, including false crawls, attempts, new and hatched nests.

To learn more about STCB’s work or to find out how you can help, please contact STCB’s Communications and Fundraising Officer Kaj Schut at cepa@bonaireturtles.org.