Over 50 students learned about the sea turtle lifecycle and threats facing these animals at last week’s Law Enforcement Explorer’s Program summer camp in Ngaremlengui on July 27.
Joshua Eberdong and Sarah Klain from Bureau of Marine Resource’s Marine Turtle Conservation and Monitoring Program spoke about Palau’s turtles, which include the critically endangered hawksbill and threatened green turtle.
Palau has the largest population of nesting Hawksbills in Micronesia, but this population is threatened by nest poaching.
The MTCMP team is conducting ongoing beach surveys in the Rock Islands and nest poaching is a prevalent problem. Nearly half of all observed nests were poached.
It is against the law to collect sea turtle eggs in Palau since it severely impacts the next generation of turtles.
Turtle populations in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia have gone extinct, largely due to over harvesting turtle eggs. Poachers should be reported to Fish & Wildlife Protection Division (488-2487).
This summer, the MTCMP will attach two satellite transmitters on sea turtles after they finish nesting.
Two hawksbills have been tracked by satellite transmitters in recent years and both remained near the main islands of Palau.
However, one juvenile hawksbill was tagged in Malakal and later caught and released by a fisherman in Davao, Philipinnes.
Two green turtles were tracked from Palau’s Southwest Islands of Helen and Merir to the Aru Islands of Indonesia.
Attaching additional transmitters will add to our understanding of where these turtles migrate.
If you are interested in learning more about sea turtles, have seen a nesting or tagged turtle, or would like to volunteer with the MTCMP, please contact Joshua Eberdong at 488-6747.