More than one in ten leatherback turtles that nest in Trinidad dies here, according to Dr Scott Eckert of Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST).Eckert: "The data is very solid on this. About 3,000 leatherbacks are entangled per year and mortality is about 30 per cent–or 1,000 leatherbacks. This represents between ten per cent and 12.5 per cent of all nesting leatherbacks are killed each year."
Gill nets are to blame. Eckert measured turtle catch rates by gill net fishers in areas along the north and east coasts of Trinidad. He found that "for every five sets of their nets (often they set two times per night) they catch a leatherback between late January and late May."
Gill nets can range from 500 metres to 2 kilometres in length. They mostly target kingfish but they have a nasty habit of being unselective. Turtles, dolphins and sharks all get caught. The best thing that can be done to revive our fishery would be to do away with them, as other countries have done.
Leatherback turtles are long-lived animals that are slow to reproduce. They probably take 12 years to mature and only one in 1,000 of their eggs is thought to survive to maturity. They cannot withstand the onslaught of gill nets.Dr Eckert is worried. He warns that Trinidad's leatherback population is in rapid and continuous decline. Trinidad may lose its leatherback population if nothing is done.
Section 4 of Trinidad and Tobago's Fisheries Act gives the minister the power to act immediately by "prescribing the size of mesh, form, and dimensions of nets or appliances for fishing."Furthermore the minister can declare "any area to be a prohibited area." There is no need for an act of Parliament. It is simple fisheries management.
Eckert proposes a Leatherback Conservation Area (LCA) from Point Radix on the east coast to Paria Bay on the north coast. The area would comprise a mix of zones where from February 1–October 31 gill nets would be completely banned and zones where turtle safe nets can be used. He expects turtle mortality to decrease by 90 per cent. The minister can decree it with a stroke of the pen.
As far back as 2005, WIDECAST and the Fisheries Division co-sponsored a national consultation with all stakeholders involved in turtle conservation or gill net fisheries. Out of that came a plan to reduce turtle bycatch, while simultaneously improving fisher income by introducing turtle friendly and enhanced fishing gear.
A turtle safe–or maybe a better description is a turtle-safer net was developed and hook and line fisheries were looked at that significantly reduce turtle mortality without reducing fisher income.Frustratingly, nothing much has happened since then, despite the hard and persistent work of turtle protection NGOs.
Fishers describe turtles as a "pest" to me. Not because they have anything in particular against turtles, but because they get so many entangled in their nets. The damage to materials and time lost costs them money.Unsurprisingly, they indicate great support for turtle friendly fishing gear. However, taking action has been another story. Few have been willing to proceed to the next step and actually implement new techniques and fishing gear.
It is time for policy makers to step up to the plate to both regulate the gill net fishery and help fishers convert to turtle friendly gear. Perplexingly, the Fisheries Division and minister have stood by and watched this turtle annihilation take place. They are responsible for managing Trinidad and Tobago's fisheries–nobody else.
Thank goodness for Trinidad and Tobago's community-based turtle protection NGOs that have done such good work protecting turtles on land.It is unfortunate that their reach does not extend out to sea or we might see similar results. That area of responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
What happens out of sight is out of mind. Trinidadians become outraged when photos appear on social media of people riding leatherback turtles or of incidental turtle poaching. There is a double standard.The threat they pose to leatherback survival comes nowhere close to the one-in-ten killed by gill nets.
It is just a few times per season that thoughtless people sit on a leatherback. They may or may not injure it enough to kill it. Meanwhile turtles drown in gill nets each night. It is like the proverbial tree in the forest. There is nobody to see it. Unfortunately nobody is posting selfies with drowned leatherbacks at sea.