HUNDREDS OF SEA turtle nests have possibly been lost along the West Coast as a result of the water run-off damage caused by Tropical Storm Harvey.
The Barbados Sea Turtle Project’s director of public awareness and education, Carla Daniel, told the DAILY NATION that while she and volunteer Esther Vogel had managed to save scores of nests and relocate thousands of eggs, the project had to concede that was a mere fraction of the numbers that had been exposed that day.
On Friday, as Harvey lashed the island with torrential rains, the Sea Turtle Project’s hotline was inundated with calls about eggs strewn on the beaches and disoriented Hawksbill hatchlings along the 4.3-kilometre stretch between Reed’s Bay, St James and Almond Beach, St Peter. The majority of calls concerned Reed’s Bay and Gibbs’ Bay and the problem was not caused by rough seas but by water run-off from uphill sources.
Daniel said she and Vogel spent from midday Friday to about 3 a.m. Saturday relocating the nests from the severely eroded West Coast beaches to more stable nearby stretches. Some of the rescued nests had in more than 130 eggs. (HLE)
Please read the full story in today’s Daily Nation, or in the eNATION edition.
