Sea turtles and the law |18 April 2011

Conservation of sea turtles in the Seychelles has been ongoing for many years, with pioneering islands such as Cousin (Nature Seychelles) and Aride (Island Conservation Society) completely protecting their nesting beaches since the early 1970s and achieving fantastic results.

In 1994, specific laws, the 1994 Wild Animals (turtles) Protection Act, were passed by the government. Under these laws, it is strictly illegal to catch, injure or kill a turtle; sell, buy or receive turtle meat as a gift; eat turtle meat under any circumstances; possess any turtle products including hatchlings, meat, eggs, shells (without permit) and calipee etc.

The penalties for breaking these laws include payment of up to R500,000; minimum two years imprisonment and confiscation of vessels, vehicles and gear.

Adult turtles

The Marine Conservation Society Seychelles (MCSS) has been conducting nesting turtle monitoring on Mahé since 2004, and sadly during that time has witnessed the results of poaching many times. In this season alone, several carcasses have been discovered near beaches, still full of eggs where nesting females were not even given the chance to lay before they were killed for their meat. This is a huge shame as it takes these turtles 30-35 years before they reach maturity and can reproduce. Due to this very long maturation period, adult turtles that are lost from the population are very hard to replace. From analysing the turtle nesting data from the remaining priority rookery beaches in the South of Mahe over the last eight years, MCSS estimates that there are only roughly fifty female hawksbills and three green turtles nesting there annually. This is a vast reduction from the numbers nesting when the Seychelles were first colonised.

It is not just the killing of the adult turtles that is forbidden under the law, as indicated above; it is also illegal to harass them. This includes getting too close to females on beaches which may scare them back into the sea, as well as “playing” with turtles in the water. Turtles should never be chased or handled in the water unless catching them forms part of a research project endorsed by the government and strictly supervised by experts.

Hatchling turtles

It is against the law to interfere with hatchling turtles. Many people believe that they are helping newly hatched turtles by carrying them to the sea but unfortunately this is not the case. Scientists believe that it is vital that hatchlings are allowed to walk down the beach by themselves as this helps them to imprint on the location and navigate back to it to lay their own eggs over three decades later.  It is important that hatchlings return to the same area that they came from as these areas were obviously suitable for turtle nesting in the past and hopefully will still be suitable when they return as adults. Under no circumstances should hatchlings be dug up from their nest either. It is very important that the turtles are allowed to complete this task by themselves as it forms part of their natural life cycle.
 
A common misconception is that it is beneficial to keep hatchlings in captivity as “pets” so that they can be released once they have grown bigger. Unfortunately this is not generally the case and will negatively impact the turtles as they will miss the ‘imprinting’ phase of the first walk down their birth beach. It is also impossible to provide the correct conditions for turtle hatchlings at home as well as being illegal.  For the same reason comments such as; “If the turtle goes into the sea now, it is so small that it will be eaten by big fish” are similarly not valid – yes, there is high mortality in the first weeks of life, but this is part of nature and in the past their life-cycle accommodated such losses.  It is only man’s interference and hunting /poaching that has pushed the species into such a dramatic decline.

Things that you can do

It is a great experience to see such incredible animals in their natural environments. Whether it is a nesting female, a group of hatchlings or a turtle feeding in the sea, there are safe ways for you to enjoy the moment while not disturbing the turtles.

Turtle Watchers Codes of Conduct have been created by MCSS in partnership with Dr Jeanne Mortimer and funding support from Mangroves For the Future.

The codes of conduct is available upon request to www.info@mcss.sc and will soon be available at the Seychelles Tourism Board offices and the Ministry of Environment as well as  district administration offices.

Any queries or questions regarding turtles and their conservation will also gladly be answered by MCSS staff.

If you see or hear of any of the turtle laws being broken, please call the Greenline: 722111 or MCSS: 713500. All calls are confidential.