Report information
The situation now is that the hatching season is about to come to an end – indeed they have 5 more nests to hatch. The nesting season normally runs from May to August and the hatching from July to end of October. Gestation is between 45-60 days.
Lamu hosts both the Green and Hawksbill Turtles, but the Green is by far the most common there. Traditionally, without protection the survival rate of new hatchlings is less than 10%.
Many of them are predated on by crabs, snappers and sharks but it is also human intervention that has brought them to the brink of extinction. Despite the relatively recent passing of laws preventing the trade in marine Turtles, the Turtle plays a large part in the cultural beliefs of the Banjuni people where the meat and eggs are used as food. Moreover, the shell is sold for export and the oil is used for medicinal remedies. As the Turtles grow larger and mature they then face indiscriminate trawler nets, and pollution. Many Turtles die having ingested plastic bags, bottles etc.
Through the work of the Lamu Marine Turtle Conservation Project, the survival rate of the hatchlings has increased to 30%. The project operates a beach monitoring and protection programme combined with a successful education and awareness programmes with local schools and fishermen.
This season Lamu has hosted 35 nests, down from 50 in 2007. The reasons in the decline in number of nests, is thought to be due to:
Change in weather
Pollution
Indiscriminate Trawling (even from Trawlers from Japan Korea)
Once the hatchlings make it to the sea, relatively little is yet known about what happens to the Turtles – they return to Lamu 25-30 years later to mate and nest. The ‘lost years’ is still subject to a lot of scientific research, but Lamu knows that their Turtles migrate all the way down the east African coastline.
Further Reading:
Last report: Loggerhead Turtle navigation
Lamu Marine Turtle Conservation Project