At the request of the Bahamas National Trust I am responding to Mark’s comments on the BNT press release (http://www.eleutheranews.com/permalink/4378.html) about an educational program which includes turtle tagging and research in Bottom Harbour, North Eleuthera.
There are two research programs that tag turtles in Bottom Harbour. One is the GERONIMO program from St. George’s School (Newport RI, USA) and the other is the Family Island Research and Education program which is affiliated with the Bahamas National Trust. Both programs perform turtle research for the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research of the University of Florida, and both programs operate under research permits issued by the Bahamian Department of Marine Resources. Demographic and other data produced by this research and the involvement of the scientists in Bahamian conservation were instrumental in implementing the Turtle Harvest Ban issued by the Bahamian government in 2009.
Since all the turtle species in the Bahamas are endangered, the species need conservation action. Ongoing research is necessary to inform this conservation action.
All the organizations involved are non-profits which must raise money from government and private sources to fund their research and education. The students are from the Bahamas, the US, and other countries and many are on scholarship. A few of the students are BESS Scholars from the Island School. The educational value of these programs is well documented and has proven inspirational to several students who have gone on to pursue careers in ocean science and conservation.
The turtle capture methods used by these programs meet international protocols and have been proven safe for the turtles. It is true that some inexperienced divers are used in the capture process, but these students are supervised by senior scientists with many years of experience. The Director of the Family Island Research Education program, for example, has been studying sea turtles since 1982.
Both the GERONIMO program and the Family Island Research and Education program coordinate some of their work in Eleuthera with the Island School which runs a turtle research project directed by Research Manager, Annabelle Brooks.
We are sorry if there are misunderstandings, but we invite those who want to learn more about the research to visit the following websites and contact any of the organizations for more information.
www.bahamaseaturtleresearch.org
Sincerely,
Stephen Connett, Family Island Research and Education
