288 Turtle Hatchlings Released on Punta Chame

Story by: Alison DatePhoto by: Chrisse HarwankoSaturday, November 21st, Foundation Tortuguias, a non-governmental organization with a focus on marine turtles in Panama, released 288 newly hatched Olive Ridley baby turtles into the wild!

The special event organized by the NGO, was well attended with approximately 300 participants who came out to witness this brief but critical life cycle phase of these sea turtles.  Attendees were given the opportunity to hold a baby turtle, before carefully placing it on the sand behind a marked off area. This is where these baby sea turtles would begin their safely monitored scramble to the sea. The purpose of these events is to increase awareness and appreciation of this endangered marine creature.

Hatching, and then getting into the ocean safely is a difficult task for a baby turtle. After they make it to the ocean they have stored energy for only about 7-9 days,  they use this energy for swimming out to sea in search of a floating seabed. Of course, they still have many obstacles to get past to survive to adulthood in the next 15 to 20 years. It is significant that only 1 in 1000 marine turtles make it to adulthood, with females returning to the same beach where they hatched to lay their eggs.

Turtle hatcheries are created  to protect eggs from predators including humans, that like to eat the eggs. Volunteers must monitor the beach, searching for nesting turtles. The eggs are then carefully removed from the sand and relocated on the same beach into a nesting hole that is recreated for them inside the fenced off hatchery. This enclosed structure must be moved to a new area of clean sand each nesting season to limit destruction of bacterial and other invasive forces from the sand. Guarding turtles is hard work and but it is the only way these animals will survive on beaches that are now filled with so many human induced, as well as natural predators. Since 2014 45,000 baby turtles have been released in Punta Chame, Cambutal & La Esmerelda (isla del rey, archipiélago de las perlas).

This year there are still more hatchlings to be released. To date (2014 and 2015), 7000 baby turtles have been released into the wild in Punta Chame. This summer the group aims to organize more educational about the environment for kids in the community. However there will not be anymore public releases due to the small amount of nests left in the hatchery.

If you would like to help preserve Panama’s beaches and marine life, join the Tortuguias Foundation/ Fundación Tortuguías to connect with the local community and help cleanup Panama’s Beaches.  

One of the biggest dangers marine turtles face is marine debris. Often marine animals mistake plastic particles for food. Items like plastic bags resemble jelly fish, a main sources of food for sea turtles. With this in mind the Panama Cleanup/ Limpieza Panama campaign aims to clean up our shores. This project starts close to home, with a focus on spreading awareness about the importance of not littering through local schools.

The next beach clean up is planned for Sunday, December 13 from 9 am till 12 noon, meeting at the Coronado Bay public beach entrance. This is the beginning of summer vacation in Panama. For more info on this event contact: Alison at alizoned@aol.com