It was a night to be remembered. As the floors rocked from music by opening act Island Thyme Band before DJ Sly brought it to full gear. Bernard Rivera planned the event and emcee Brad Ruszala led the festivities. Aside from all the fun and craziness, everyone knew that there was a purpose behind the party.
The Turtle Advocate Guidance Society, or TAGS, seeks to combat the impending collapse of the sea turtle population in the CNMI.
The number of nesting sea turtles returning to shores annually has been in a precipitous decline for years and is now reaching its breaking point.
As concerned citizens, members of TAGS are pooling their time and resources with wildlife officials and the local government in order to preserve and protect the turtles that remain.
Without these measures, scientists predict that turtles face local extinction as early as five years from now.
Targeted poaching of the nesting females and their eggs is the primary reason for the decline in population.
When poachers kill the nesting females and their eggs, they destroy the prospects of the next generation of turtles.
TAGS aims to combat poaching through several different vectors.
Every morning volunteers patrol nesting beaches at sunrise.
This is being performed in conjunction with officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who assist in identifying nesting females and their nests, monitoring those nests, and collecting data which are relayed to the scientific community in Honolulu.
TAGS said its presence on the beaches also serves to make poachers aware that their activities are being monitored, and hopefully discourages them from continuing to poach. Any evidence of illegality is promptly reported to local law enforcement.
“We outdid ourselves raising three times that of our art exhibit, but knew we could do it,” says chairwoman, Eileen Escudero Wisor. “Everyone I spoke to leading up to the event was excited about the theme. After the party we got amazing feedback. Everyone had a blast, many having said it was the ‘party of the year.’ A coworker even joked that he wished it could be the Jersey Shore party every weekend. Friends that couldn’t make it were really sorry they missed it.”
The main goal is to make sure “people have such a good time that they generate a lot of talk about turtles, TAGS and what a great time the fundraiser was,” she continues to explain that we aim to ”raise awareness first and fund our projects second.”
“I’ve never seen a sea turtle but I’m all for protecting endangered animals,” Shelli Neal says, one of the many party goers at the night.
The events during the night were a huge success, raising funds for TAGS through the roof!
“My favorite event by far was the dinner auction with the people who volunteered their time as dinner dates. There was some serious competition for the dance-off, but the bidding for dinner dates got plenty of laughs and brought in a bunch of money for TAGS,” Brad Ruszala, the emcee of the night, says.
“Band and emcee killed it. The music was great, and the emcee did a wonderful job of staying in character the whole evening,” Khris Ward explains, one of the fellow volunteers bidding himself for a date.
“I think it’s imperative that TAGS keep doing whatever it can to keep the turtles safe from poachers/environmental hazards.”
Ward says and continues to explain that he heard about the event from “QyunChi Nguyen, and expected to have a fun time partying while hoping to promote sea turtle awareness.”
Sponsors of the fantastic night included Godfathers Bar, Tan Siu Lin Foundation, Marpac, Docomo Pacific, IT&E, Joe’s Bar ‘The Steak House Capital’, Seventh Day Adventist, Hyatt Regency Saipan and Marianas Trekking.
