In the past year, a total of 113 nests of three different species of endangered sea turtles have been found on the islands of Bonaire and Klein Bonaire. That is an increase of 27 percent compared to a year earlier, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reports Thursday.
These are nests of the loggerhead turtle, hawksbill turtle and green sea turtle. The first nest was discovered on May 1, the last nest was found on November 13. Most of the eggs have already hatched, but the eggs in a number of nests created in October and November have yet to hatch.
“The first calculations show that the hatching success of litters is probably slightly higher than last year”, says Kaj Schut of the Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire (SCTB) organization. “In addition, fewer litters showed signs of bacteria and fungi, two factors that negatively affect hatching success.”
The eggs were laid by about 28 turtles. Loggerhead turtles, hawksbill turtles and green sea turtles are usually responsible for four nests per year.
SCTB has constantly made sure that everything goes well with the turtles. Despite all the corona measures, the volunteers of the organization continued to work to keep the beaches safe.
In recent months there has been a lot of rain and the water has been very high, which caused problems with a number of nests. “Unfortunately three nests were lost due to rain and high waves,” said Schut.
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