Sea Turtles North and South/Planeta.com

Sea Turtles North and South
- by R.A. Allard

August 1996

UNITED STATES -- By the time I'd arrived in Melbourne Beach, Florida this June, I'd resigned myself to the fact that a sea turtle biologist is *not* a tortugologa. Sadly, I could not compare the fabulously long nights I'd spent on Costa Rica's Pacific Coast, teaching my eyes to distinguish olive ridley turtle-shapes among the driftwood on moonlit beaches with the cattle-herd of North American tourists waiting for the radio call telling us where to find our one alloted nesting loggerhead. Though the Sea Turtle Preservation Society of Melbourne Beach was putting forth a valiant effort to educate locals and visitors about the behavior and needs of the region's wealth of turtles, this really wasn't the way it was supposed to be. To my mind, turtle watching should be centered around the element of surprise, good fortune, and the patient understanding that we are guests in turtle territory, and that we have an obligation to respect their right to frustrate us and amaze us.

Shorefront lighting has been kept to a minimum at Melbourne Beach, but the few lights visible along the beach filled me with anger at the extent of human arrogance and our willingness to push the limits of development within sensitive habitats. I longed for villages lacking electricity and regulations, and tried to force myself to believe that this summer's Florida experience had nothing to do with those nights in Central America five years ago. I have heard countless stories of the expansion of ecotourism in many of the remote areas I came to love while studying and traveling through Costa Rica. Ever the idealist, I cannot bring myself to imagine television entering the village where I'd lived, let alone the influx of the infrastructure necessary for large-scale tourism.

There is no moral justification for my attitudes; I have no more right to halt change or to interfere with the wishes of local communities than I do to pass judgment on the condominium owners of Florida whose balcony lights may disorient hatchling turtles and threaten their safe descent into the ocean. Nesting beaches on shores with abundant visitors are just as real as beaches inaccessible to all but the most ingenious or fortunate. Whether in the North American southeast or in the many Latin American countries whose coastlines provide vital habitat for the eight species of endangered and threatened sea turtles, a nesting beach is a nesting beach. For those of fortunate enough to watch an enormous turtle labor up the beach to dig her nest and lay her eggs, observe with respect. Remember that this one beautiful animal in North Miami may have fed on jellyfish off the shore of Cuba just weeks earlier, or that this tiny hatchling in Mexico may one day be captured and released from shrimp nets off the coast of Texas.

Ironically, the shift in my understanding came not upon staring a nesting turtle in the eye, nor in standing on some beach access stairway giving some impromptu moralistic speech about respect for the other inhabitants of the earth or anything else quite so grand. While walking down the beach to see "our" turtle for the evening, my eyes were passing judgment on all the failings of Western development. Upon reaching the turtle, I was struck by the unmistakable smell of nesting turtles, and the fluid that surrounds their eggs. For the first time, I realized that what was so permanently fixed in my memory was not just the smell of turtle, but the combination of Skin-so-Soft and DEET repellent, ocean spray and salt, and the presence of humans - interested onlookers and some holier-than-thou ecotourists like myself, all gathered to appreciate sea turtles, wherever we can find them. Further information on nesting sites is widely available in guidebooks and on the World Wide Web. I wish you fun in discovering a turtle beach to visit, whether you find yourself in Latin America or in the southeastern region of the United States. Turtles may also be found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and in the Mediterranean Sea.

M. Timothy O'Keeffe's Sea Turtles, A Watcher's Guide is an excellent resource for those interested in learning more about the natural history of marine turtles, and Archie Carr's The Sea Turtle: So Excellent a Fishe is a timeless classic by the great turtle biologist *and* tortugologo. Several websites are dedicated to sea turtle conservation, including Turtle Trax, the Marine Turtle Newsletter, the Caribbean Conservation Corporation home page, and many personal home pages created by turtle fans. Enjoy!

The author is a doctoral student at Duke University's Center for International Development Research. She can be reached via email.

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Sea Turtles North and South - by R.A. Allard

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Sea Turtles North and South
- by R.A. Allard