IIt’s nearly midnight as Delvis Semedo walks along a deserted beach on the Cape Verdean island of Maio. Above, the dense Milky Way pierces the darkness. A sea turtle emerges from the crashing waves and comes up the shore. Then another. And another.

Semedo is one of some 100 residents who patrol Maio’s beaches every night during the nesting season to collect data on turtles and protect them from poachers. This year has been busier than usual. Sea turtle nests on the islands of Sal, Maio and Boa Vista – the main loggerhead nesting areas in Cape Verde – have skyrocketed in the past five years. The Cape Verde Ministry of the Environment estimates the number of nests in 2020 on the 10 islands at nearly 200,000, compared to 10,725 in 2015.

The island nation of West Africa was considered the world’s third largest nesting site for loggerheads (in terms of nesting females), after Florida and Oman. But the number of nests has increased so much in recent years that some scientists believe Cape Verde to be the second largest, if not the largest.

Cape Verde Map

While Covid-19 travel restrictions have helped break away from human disturbance, experts believe conservation measures are the main factor behind the increase in the number of nests.

“Conservation efforts in Cape Verde began 20 years ago – that’s how long it takes for baby turtles to come back to adulthood,” says Albert Taxonera, founder and co-director of Project Biodiversity, a Cape Verdean conservation organization.

Cape Verdean NGOs monitor hundreds of kilometers of sandy coastline each year during the nesting season. Patrollers like Semedo are tasked with protecting as many turtles as possible on their designated stretch of beach. Each turtle should be measured, fitted with a tracking chip, and monitored to ensure it returns to the sea safely.

For centuries, slow-moving reptiles have been viewed as a free and easily obtainable food source. But economic growth has made other sources of protein more accessible, and education initiatives have raised awareness of the plight of sea turtles.

“I used to think of them just as food,” says Semedo. “But from the first day I saw a turtle, I knew I wanted to protect it.”

In 2018, Cape Verde also toughened existing laws and criminalized the killing, trade and consumption of sea turtles. Violators are usually fined or community service, which can involve a beach patrol with the NGO that caught them.

It’s not just Cape Verdean sea turtles that thrive. Beaches from India to the United States have also seen an exponential increase in nesting, and the same factors could be at play.

“If you look at the number of marine turtle projects that are out there now, compared to what you had 30 years ago, there are hundreds,” says Rod Mast, co-chair of the Marine Turtle Specialist Group of IUCN and editor. of the State of the World’s Sea Turtles report. “We are doing a very good job protecting them. “

Besides conservation efforts, some scientists believe the number of nests may be linked to the productivity of the oceans. If there is a high density of nutrients in the ocean in a given year, for example, the turtles will have enough energy to nest.

A global decline in sharks, which prey on sea turtles, is another possible factor. Shark and ray populations have fallen by more than 70% since 1970 due to overfishing.

Despite recent progress, a myriad of threats remain to sea turtles and some populations are facing significant declines. Many leatherback turtle subpopulations are listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN, for example, and hawksbill turtles are also endangered.

Scientists say the main culprit is fishing nets, which can trap and drown sea turtles. Plastic pollution is also responsible. Floating bags can be easily mistaken for jellyfish, which turtles feed on, and microplastics are ubiquitous in the oceans.

Protecting beaches isn’t enough – we also need to focus on protecting turtles at sea, says Mast. “The ocean is systemically unhealthy, and there are only two things wrong: what people put in it and what people get out of it,” he says. “And so the common denominator is people.”

People need to change their behavior regarding seafood consumption, carbon production and plastic use in order to save turtles, he adds.

In the long run, global warming could be the biggest threat. The sex of a turtle is determined by the temperature of the sand in which the egg is buried, and as this increases, gender relations are skewed. On Maio, for example, almost 100% of newborns in 2019 and 2020 were estimated to be females.

A diminished male population not only affects reproduction, but decreases genetic diversity, which can hamper the ability of species to adapt to environmental changes. Conservation efforts, which focus on protecting nesting females, can make this problem worse, says Juan Patiño-Martinez, scientific coordinator of the Maio Biodiversity Foundation.

“Genetically, they are on the verge of extinction,” he says. “We need more men.

Coastal development, especially tourist resorts next to nesting beaches, is another major concern. Sal is already home to dozens of resorts and hotels, and this year Cape Verde approved the construction of a huge luxury tourist and shopping complex on the pristine shores of Maio.

“We are destroying their habitats and causing global warming, but we are also implementing very strong conservation programs,” says Patiño-Martinez. “So it depends on humans. We can make them go extinct or we can keep them.

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