The 2007 Turtle Watching season is planned to run much as it did in 2006 with different nights during the week assigned to different tour operators. As usual, Fridays and Saturday nights will be reserved for community and education nights as part of the Ocean Spirits leatherback conservation programme. Ocean Spirits, tour operators, the GHTA and the Division of Fisheries collaboratively drew up this tour structure to ensure that the tours continue to act as a complimentary component to the conservation programme rather than at its expense. This document sets out the structure for these tours.
Tour Operator Contact Details and Tour Days:
kennedytours@caribsurf.com
| Mandoo Tours (473 407 0024) |
Thurs/Sun |
Format:
Season
The Turtle Watching Season is likely to last from the middle of April 2007 to June 2007, although this will largely be determined by the numbers of nesting females that the research teams encounter. If nesting density remains high beyond these dates, tours will be arranged according to demand.
Each of the available days is designated to one of the above tour operators to allow an equal opportunity to provide trips and to ensure only 1 trip is present at the beach per night. This structure has been designed to be flexible so that if one tour operator does not have sufficient numbers for a trip of their own, they are able to pass on guests to another operator.
Each trip will involve transport to and from Levera beach, St. Patrick’s (approx. 1hr 30 mins) where they will be met by a guide and/or member of the research team. The trip group will then be reminded of the strict protocols that everyone must adhere to on the beach (see Protocols). In addition, the guide will provide a small introduction to the evening, outlining some of the key characteristics of leatherback sea turtles and the ongoing conservation programme at Levera. The group will remain at a single point on the beach to limit the impact these trips have on the nesting population and to allow easy access back to the transport should it be required.
Every 30 minutes, an Ocean Spirits research team will carry out a patrol of the entire length of the nesting beach to identify if any nesting animals are present. To avoid disturbing nesting animals and crushing small hatchlings under foot, these patrols will only be conducted by the research teams.
On discovery of a turtle, the research team will communicate to the guide (via radio) the location and nature of the activity. The guide will then organise the group and in co-ordination with the research team, bring the group to the nesting animal where the guide will provide additional information relating to the turtle’s activity. There will always be a research team member at hand to provide additional more specific information relating to the monitoring/research programme if required.
The group may stay as long as collectively agreed and may be shown multiple turtles during the trip. However, it can never be guaranteed that a turtle will be present on the beach during any trip. This is a wild species and neither the research team nor guide can predict repeatedly when females emerge to nest. Guests should be made aware of this fact before they join a trip. To date, turtles have successfully been seen on over 95% of trips.
Available days:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday.
Friday and Saturday are by default reserved for Ocean Spirits’ education programme or community nights (N.B. This is flexible i.e. if there are no planned school or community trips planned these nights will become available for standard Turtle Watching activities. However, confirmation must be made with Ocean Spirits to ensure availability.
Maximum number of Persons
There is an absolute maximum of 13 persons per trip. This is to both ensure quality of experience for guests as well as to avoid adversely affecting the nesting turtles. If demand exceeds capacity for any given night, any number over the first 13 must join another trip.
Number of Trips:
There is a limit of 1 trip per night. However, if two or more tour operators collectively do NOT have more than 13 guests, then a combination of trips can be arranged. It is the responsibility of tour operators to ensure that there is no more than one tour per night.
Time:
All trips will take place between 20:00 and 00:00 approx
This depends on the tour operators’ and participants’ desire to stay to see a nesting animal. Turtle watching trips are only offered during the near peak and peak nesting period of the entire nesting season. This ensures a high quality of product as it is critical that trips have the best chance of observing a turtle. Trips usually commence in the season when there is equal to or more than a 75% chance of seeing a turtle before 00:00. Please consider that during the first and last few days of the Turtle Watching season, there may be a decreased chance of seeing a turtle.
Guide Rental:
The hiring of a trained local guide is an essential requirement to all trips to Levera as it plays a critical role within the conservation programme. In addition, the local guide is fully trained in the required protocols for the research programme at Levera and the protocols that guide anyone’s interaction with these animals. They are also well informed about sea turtles and provide valuable information and insights to the guests. It is also a requirement of each trip as designated by the Division of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture – the governmental ministry who is responsible for the management of this species.
Support of the Conservation Programme:
It has been agreed by tour operators and the fisheries Division that the cost per person should include a donation towards the ongoing conservation programme. This totals US$5 per person on trips with 4 persons or less and US$10 per person on trips with more than 4 persons. Student and resident trips are encouraged to support the programme by purchasing a t-shirt or making a donation to the conservation programme.
Recommended attire:
Guests are advised to wear trousers and shirt/t-shirt with access to something warmer if needs be. If inactive, the coastal breeze can make the beach a cold place to be. During the wet season, waterproofs are also advisable as the beach environment is often too windy for umbrellas. If needs be, guests can always gain access to their transport vehicle, but please be advised the rain can be sudden and heavy! Suitable footwear is also advisable for walking on the beach and all participants should be comfortable sitting on the sand when asked to do so by the guide.
The Turtle Watching programme will provide three types of tours: Visitor, Student/Resident, & Education/Community
Visitor Package
Description:
 Trip includes travel to and from Levera beach, St. Patrick's. Each trip will include the cost of hiring a locally trained guide (EC$100) for the night's activity to ensure that visitors are suitably directed and supervised on the nesting beach. Guides will stay in constant communication with the research team (via radio) already in place on the beach, a representative of which is always available to provide additional information to the guests should it be required. On the discovery of a turtle, the research team will contact the guide and inform them when and where to start leading the guests to. The cost of the trip includes a donation to Ocean Spirits conservation programme. For trips with 4 people or less the donation is US$5 per person. For trips with greater than 4 people, the donation is US$10 per person.
Cost: US$60 per person |
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Student/Resident Package
Description:
The same as the Visitor trip, but does not include by default a donation to the conservation programme. Instead, guests are invited to make a donation or purchase a t-shirt as way of supporting the programme - non-compulsory.
Cost: US$40 |
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Education/Community
Description:
Education and community trips will primarily be arranged by Ocean Spirits as they are usually combined with some form of prior contact and/or presentation. Fridays and Saturdays are reserved for these types of trips. |
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The initial placement of tour guides with Turtle Watching tours will be coordinated by Ocean Spirits. Tour operators must contact Ocean Spirits by the latest of 12:00 pm on the day of the trip to allow for organisation of a guide. Either Carl Lloyd (Programme Director) or Dora Cornwall (Turtle Watching Coordinator) should be contacted to arrange for the provision of a guide or any other matter relating to Turtle Watching tours
Protocols:
All guides and research personnel operate by strict guidelines of turtle/human interaction which has been endorsed within the regulatory framework that governs these animals during this critical period of their life cycle. While the details of these protocols will be passed on to tour participants during the event, there are some guidelines that relevant parties should be aware of before recruiting guests.
No flash photography of any kind will be permitted on the nesting beach. This activity leads to considerable disorientation and may affect the animals’ reproductive potential over the nesting season. Flash photography also affects hatchling orientation and may dissuade other animals from nesting that evening.
- No torches or flash lights of any kind will be permitted on the nesting beach. The trained tour guide will be equipped with a suitably adapted head torch for leading guests. Turtles are very responsive to light during the nesting cycle and can be affected both on and off the beach. All research teams and guides are trained in the careful use of illumination around nesting animals. This in no way detracts from the visual experience for the Turtle Watching group. In addition, efforts should be made to mask other forms of unnatural lighting from the nesting beach, for example parking vehicles behind natural cover at the entrance of the beach and ensuring that headlights are turned off.
- There will be no opportunity for participants to handle eggs. This is to ensure that no foreign chemical or biological agent is inadvertently introduced into the nest cavity. The research teams go to great lengths (including the suffering of constant insect bites!) to ensure that this principal is not broached.
- There will be no riding or otherwise other physical interaction that will result in the disturbance of a nesting turtle.
- Unless otherwise stated, tour groups will remain in situ away from the active nesting area until a suitable nesting female has been located and assessed. Leatherbacks, like all sea turtles, have been shown to possess sensitivity to both light and movement during the very early and late stages of the nesting cycle, either of which can cause an animal to return to the sea without nesting. In addition, hatchling turtles are very difficult to see and are easily stepped upon. For that reason, Turtle Watching groups as well as research teams do not approach animals until they are firmly committed to their nesting cycle.
- It is not possible to guarantee that any given tour will observe every or any component of the nesting cycle. Despite their tolerance of a small well managed group behind them, turtles are not domestic animals and as such we cannot predict with accuracy when, where or how an individual female will nest. The best we can do is provide a window of opportunity when we believe – based on current data – the likelihood of observing a nesting female is strongest.
- No pets of any kind are permitted on the tours for obvious reasons.
Turtle watching tours at Levera have now begun, providing a rare and exciting opportunity to observe the critically endangered leatherback turtle. The tours were first made available in 2001 as part of Ocean Spirits’ ongoing research and monitoring programme and enables visitors and residents alike to observe at first hand the nesting process of this ancient creature. The trips now play an essential role in Grenada’s effort to conserve the second largest population of nesting leatherbacks in the Caribbean with tours continuing to illustrate turtle watching as a viable, national eco-product to substitute the pressure of turtle egg and meat consumption. This is a proven conservation management strategy that has been successfully implemented at other critical regional and global nesting sites like Levera.