I love this story. Last weekend, 138 baby turtles were released into the ocean in an effort to increase the population. The released happened up on the north coast and was a collaboration between turtle expert Mel Tennant and local residents. In past years, the turtle population has declined, but Tennant (who I heard give an excellent TED Talk awhile ago) has been working hard to teach the community how to protect them. From a Gleaner story:
Deciding that they wanted to see their crawling neighbours out in big numbers once again, the residents decided to secure the services of St Mary-based turtle expert Mel Tennant to teach them the rudiments of turtle preservation.
“He (Tennant) taught us how to monitor the turtles and to find the nests on the beach where they lay their eggs,” said Earle. “Once we learnt how to find the nest, we began marking the spots … the eggs are usually hatched between 55 to 60 days.”
In the case of the baby turtles, which the community released, Tennant said the nest from which they came was found by following the instructions Tennant had given them.
“When we went to check on the nest recently, we discovered that the eggs had started to hatch,” said Earle. “The community was alerted and we began to make plans to release them into the sea.”
Last Saturday at 4 p.m., 60 residents gathered on the beach to view the release of the baby turtles, which were placed in a bucket prior to being released.
“Once they (the turtles) were released, they headed straight for the sea … it was a real pleasure watching them going off into the sea,” said Earle. “I think I can safely say that our sea-turtle preservation is off to a good start.”
Jamaican Journal 