Guidelines

TURTLE WATCHING PROTOCOLS

All guides and research personnel operate by strict guidelines of turtle/human interaction which has been endorsed within the legal regulatory framework that governs these animals during this critical period of their life cycle. While the details of these protocols will be passed on to tour participants during the event, there are some guidelines that relevant parties should be aware of before recruiting or becoming guests.

1. No flash photography of any kind will be permitted on the nesting beach. This activity leads to considerable disorientation and may affect the animals' reproductive potential over the nesting season. Flash photography also affects hatchling orientation and may dissuade other animals from nesting that evening.

2. No torches or flash lights of any kind will be permitted on the nesting beach. The trained tour guide will be equipped with a suitably adapted head torch for leading guests. Turtles are very responsive to light during the nesting cycle and can be affected both on and off the beach. All research teams and guides are trained in the careful use of illumination around nesting animals. This in no way detrac ts from the visual experience for the Turtle Watching group. In addition, efforts should be made to mask other forms of unnatural lighting from the nesting beach, for example parking vehicles behind natural cover at the entrance of the beach and ensuring that headlights are turned off when approaching and when at the beach.

3. There will be no opportunity for participants to handle eggs. This is to ensure that no foreign chemical or biological agent is inadvertently introduced into the est cavity. The research teams go to great lengths (including the suffering of constant insect bites!) to ensure that this principal is not broached. Sea turtle eggs also harbour potential for salmonella infections transmissible to humans, this protocol further aims to reduce this risk to participants.

4. There will be no riding or otherwise other physical interaction that will result in the disturbance of a nesting turtle.

5. Unless otherwise stated, tour groups will remain in situ away from the active nesting area until a suitable nesting female has been located and assessed. Leatherbacks, like all sea turtles, have been shown to possess sensitivity to both light and movement during the very early and late stages of the nesting cycle, either of which can cause an animal to return to the sea without nesting. In addition, hatchling turtles are very difficult to see and are easily stepped upon. For that reason, Turtle Watching groups as well as research teams do not approach animals until they are firmly committed to their nesting cycle.

6. It is not possible to guarantee that any given tour will observe every or any component of the nesting cycle. Despite their tolerance of a small well managed group behind them, turtles are not domestic animals and as such we cannot predict with accuracy when, where or how an individual female will nest. The best we can do is provide a window of opportunity when we believe - based on current data - the likelihood of observing a nesting female is strongest.

7. No pets of any kind are permitted on the tours for obvious reasons.