Covid19 regulations put Trinidad and Tobago sea turtles at risk

Nature Seekers TT, an environmental conservation group, is calling on Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh to allow sea-turtle conservationists access to beaches at night to monitor and collect data.

The turtle-watching season began on March 1 and ends on August 30. The Public Health Ordinance only allows access to beaches between 6 am and 6 pm. Monitoring the turtles would be difficult with this restriction, since most sea turtle species usually come ashore at night during high tide.

The organisation said, in a release on Tuesday, it had tried several times to get the necessary permits/exemptions for turtle-conservation work, but had been unsuccessful.

The release, accompanied by a photo of a dead sea turtle, with wounds to the neck and its flippers cut off, further said because of the restrictions the group decided to cancel sea-turtle conservation activities for the 2021 turtle-watching season.

At a press conference on Monday Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said, “Now should possibly be the safest time for turtles, because no one is allowed on the beach to poach eggs or to kill the turtles or ride on their backs.”

But the organisation said while this is true, many conservation groups noted increases in turtle poaching across both islands in 2020.

As one of the country's many sea-turtle conservation groups, it said, Nature Seekers "would like to implore the minister to reconsider his position thus allowing for the continued conservation of this vulnerable national treasure.”