“WWF Launches Alert on World Turtle Day: Guyana’s Leatherback Turtles Decline by 95% Due to Illegal Fishing”

2023-05-23 19:29:50

In 20 years, the clutches of leatherback turtles have declined by 95% on the beaches of Guyana. World Turtle Day, this May 23, is a new opportunity to remind the general public and the authorities that the turtles of Guyana are threatened, in particular by illegal fishing. WWF launches a new alert.

Ludmïa Lewis
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Published on May 23, 2023 at 4:29 p.m.,
updated on May 23, 2023 at 4:37 p.m.

May 23 is World Turtle Day. The perfect opportunity to remember thatin Guyana, the leatherback turtle could disappear from its historic nesting sites. Indeed, since the end of the 2000s, the number of clutches on Awala Yalimapo beach has dropped considerably.

To know : more than 5,000 clutches in 2009… and 72 in 2022.

The WWF organization evokes it in a report published last Octoberthen the reminder on this day by proposing actions, because “this threat continues at high intensity“.

WWF calls for targeted actions during the sea turtle nesting season and increased cooperation with Suriname, otherwise the largest sea turtle could disappear from its historic stronghold.

WWF press release this May 23

And for good reason, the NGO, in its report, blames illegal fishing. “From the early 2000s, the analyzes carried out have confirmed the dangerousness of gillnet fisheries (systematically used by illegal fishermen from Suriname in particular, editor’s note) drifting for breeding female sea turtles“.

Guyana green turtle caught in a net.
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©National Nature Reserve of the Grand-Connétable Island / French Guiana Strandings Network

According to Laurent Kelle, head of WWF Guyana, “a single net, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, can have a dramatic impact across the leatherback turtle population in French Guiana“. He calls for a reinforcement of control actions during the egg-laying period.

Thus, the NGO calls on the authorities to, on the one hand, “strengthen cooperation with Suriname“. The objective: to better protect the maritime space of the Maroni estuary on the French side and on the Suriname side. It is a “little preserved” area, according to WWF, where turtles spend 99% of their time in the egg-laying season. .

And, on the other hand, to “hoe the map of transparency”. Through, in particular, a locally shared observatory, and with Suriname to collect and process information related to illegal fishing.

Note, however, this good news shared by the KWATA association, mobilized for the conservation of wildlife and natural habitats in Guyana. It concerns the egg-laying of sea turtles on the beaches of Cayenne and Rémire-Montjoly.

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