In-water sea turtle population study

The data collection about the sea turtles around Curacao is going on steadily. Three times a week our volunteers head out to to in water surveys along the south shore of Curacao. They basically snorkel in a line and count the turtles they encounter, giving us very basic information on where the sea turtles hang out. 

We then use this information to set up specific case studies, because it is pretty interesting to see why there are a lot of turtles at specific locations. Some reasons are obvious, like the presence of food, but it is not always that straight forward.

On the north shore it is a different situation. Thanks to some generous donations, through GlobalGiving, but also through a fundraising hike organized by Dirk Ooms, we were able to buy some of the needed materials to conduct netting sessions. Since the visibility is not great along the north shore, we cannot use the non-invasive photo identification methods that are usefull on the southshore. 

Almost all the needed materials have arrived. We hope to do a new suvey session shortly, but we are still busy arranging the permits for the samples to be sent to the labs that offered their support.