Sea Turtle Conservation Suriname

HELP SAVE THE SEA TURTLES IN SURINAME

Suriname is one of the countries with the largest nesting beaches for sea turtles!!!

The nesting beaches in Suriname where they lay their eggs are of international importance for the conservation of sea turtles.

Suriname has three species of sea turtles. And all Surinamese love these animals. But...

The sea turtle and sea turtle conservation in Suriname are not doing well at all.

The number of turtles, nests and habitat are decreasing rapidly.

For example, sea turtles often live in mangrove areas and on beaches. But the mangroves and beaches in Suriname are having a hard time.

For example, turtle hotspot Braamspunt may disappear completely within 1 or 2 years.

Read this Deltares report from 2023, which has not yet been used to any great effect.

Photo of Braamspunt, the sea turtle beach that is rapidly getting smaller.

Braamspunt and sea turtles still threatened

Even though all parties involved and stakeholders want the problems surrounding sea turtles and mangroves to be addressed immediately.

What are the two biggest problems?

1. There is far too little money available to provide proper turtle conservation in Suriname.

2. There is far too little education and communication to interest donors in turtle conservation in Suriname.

It is estimated that Suriname needs at least 2 million USD per year for professional sea turtle conservation.

"In Suriname, the leatherback turtle egg population has declined by 97% over the last 20 years, since 2023"
- Soraya Wijntuin, Oceans Coordinator (WWF-Suriname)

Purpose of this page

The purpose of this page is to draw more attention within and outside Suriname to the problems regarding sea turtles and the organizations for the conservation of sea turtles in Suriname.

If sufficient money is not made available quickly, the turtles and their habitats may disappear from Suriname forever.

A lot of local knowledge still needs to be built up and a large local NGO that can organize sustainable management, conservation and protection.

After 50 years of investment by WWF, it has still not been possible to have its own PhD at the university specialized in sea turtles.

Let's turn the tide for sea turtles!

Types of Sea Turtles in Suriname

Suriname has three species of sea turtles:

Krapé (green sea turtle)
Aitkanti (leatherback sea turtle)
Warana (dwarf turtle or olive ridley)

In 2019, the IUCN listed the Northwest Atlantic leatherback subpopulation as endangered. A Regional Action Plan (RAP) was developed by the three Guyanas and Trinidad & Tobago to secure the future of this special species by addressing the threats.

Note: Unlike newsletters, this plan is unfortunately not available or downloadable.

There are no detailed data accessible on the situation and condition of these species in Suriname, other than sparse news-articles.

It would be nice if there is a database with data and a website about it, sharing all the information.

Here is a newsarticle in Dutch on Laying Season Data:

DATA LAYING SEASON 2023: NEED FOR ADJUSTMENT FOR THE FUTURE OF SEA TURTLES IN SURINAME.

Locations

In Suriname there are at least 2 locations where turtles currently mate, nest, hatch and forage.

These locations are:

Galibi Nature Reserve
Braamspunt

2 other locations where turtles currently eat and swim are:

Bigi Pan Nature Reserve
Kabalebo Nature Reserve

There is still a lot of tourism in these places around sea turtles. That is not a problem in itself as long as people adhere to the rules.

Below we first describe the overall problems, then we discuss the need for effective visitor-infromation-centers and then we describe the challenges per location.

Overall problems

There is absolutely insufficient money available to set up professional sea turtle protection.
There is absolutely insufficient education and communication (towards foreign countries) about the problem of sea turtles and the protection of sea turtles.
There is absolutely insufficient information, documentation, books, films or reports available about the sea turtles in Suriname. For example, there is no small book, pdf or nice video film that all children in Suriname and abroad can have access to. (However, the WWF has made infographics in 3 languages about the leatherback turtle).
There is no database in which data and counts are kept.
There is no website on which the protection in various projects is communicated.
There is no public information available about completed and ongoing projects
There is no documented strategy at the government for sustainable sea turtle protection
There is no separate standing organization for sea turtle protection at LBB. Work is done exclusively on a project basis
There is hardly any education in schools about sea turtles
There is no effective national information center (not even for the mangrove)
There is no international cooperation with other universities and organizations
There is no annual conference in Suriname
There is a diaspora organization from the Netherlands, Belgium or America that deals with sea turtles in Suriname

Need for an effective Visitor Information Center and Education Center

Unfortunately, there are no effective visitor information centres at the locations where sea turtles occur.

What is sometimes there, is a shelter with a printed infographic about sea turtles on a back wall.

A place like this is rebuilt every 5 or 10 years, because it quickly weathers in the wind and rain.

This type of construction does not fulfil a good function as a visitor information center or as an education center.

What should be there is a small building where people, such as local guides, sit to explain the environment and the situation and where people, such as tourists and students, can ask questions.

That building could house an audiovisual exhibition, a diorama, a few life-size sea turtles and games.

Merchandise can also be sold in the shop, such as T-shirts, caps, books and cuddly toys, which could contribute to the revenue of the center.

Groups of students from abroad could come every month to learn about sea turtles in general, the habitat in the area and the local situation of sea turtles.

This would create a lot of awareness and therefore more attention and funds for protection and management, and has no negative impact on the sea turtles if conservation rules are adhered to.

Only then it could work effectively as a visitor information center and education center.

Galibi Nature Reserve

The following problems exist at this location:

The rangers receive too little pay, clothing, transport facilities and security gear
There is no effective visitor information centre
There is disturbance of nests and theft of eggs
Disturbance rarely leads to prosecution or fines
There is no adequate surveillance, lighting or fencing
Tourism causes disturbance of the habitat
The habitat is getting smaller and smaller

Braamspunt

The following problems exist at this location:

The rangers receive too little pay, clothing, transport facilities and security gear
There is no effective visitor information center
There is disturbance of nests and theft of eggs
Disturbance rarely leads to prosecution or fines
There is no adequate surveillance, lighting or fencing
Tourism causes habitat disturbance
The habitat is becoming increasingly smaller

It is a fact that there is a huge problem on the Braamspunt beach, as the WWF even has made an infographic about it.

WWF Infographic about the problems at Braamspunt.

There have been major sand excavations in the past at Braamspunt. So besides erosion, there is also a human cause of the beach getting much smaller.

The WWF leaves that out of the infographic.

In that respect, humans should make the beach grow by kilometers by means of reconstruction.

Read these news articles about the sand excavations that have been done at Braamspunt:

Bigi Pan Nature Reserve

The following problems exist at this location:

Rangers receive insufficient pay, clothing, transportation facilities and security gear
There is no effective visitor information center
There is disturbance of nests and theft of eggs
Disturbance rarely leads to prosecution or fines
There is no adequate surveillance, lighting or fencing
Tourism causes habitat disturbance
The habitat is becoming increasingly smaller

Kabalebo Nature Reserve

The following problems exist at this location:

Rangers receive insufficient pay, clothing, transportation facilities and security gear
There is no effective visitor information center
There is disturbance of nests and theft of eggs
Disturbance rarely leads to prosecution or fines
There is no adequate surveillance, lighting or fencing
Tourism causes disturbance of the habitat
The habitat is becoming increasingly smaller

Organisations and persons

The following organisations in Suriname are responsible for the protection of sea turtles and mangrove.

LBB (Dienst 's Lands Bosbeheer, Acting Head Romeo Lala), part of GBB (Ministry of Land Policy and Forest Management, Director R. Cairo)
WWF-Guianas, Soraya Wijntuin, Oceans Officer
Green Heritage Fund (an aid organisation that contributes greatly to the management of wildlife in Suriname)
Stidunal, Foundation Sustainable Nature Conservation Alusiaka from Galibi
Probios, Foundation to protect biodiversity in Suriname
Foundation d'ONS (Turtle Watch Project)

Projects

2017

Turtle Watch Project

2020

Braamspunt Sea Turtle Beach Clean-up

Now and then great small scale projects are carried, like cleaning up the beach.

Read about this project.

2021

- no information about projects from this year available -

2022

- no information about projects from this year available -

2023

- no information about projects from this year available -

2024

Hatchery Pilot Braamspunt

In Q4 2024 there was talk of setting up a website, a booklet about sea turtles and mangroves and education about sea turtles and mangroves. However, no information can be found about it.

2025

- it is unknown which projects are currently running -

International cooperation

You would expect that there would be an annual conference in Suriname about Sea Turtle Conservation, and that at the university there are several international researchers working on groundbreaking research in the field of Sea Turtles and the impact of climate change and warming of the sea.

However, that is not the situation at the moment.

In many countries there are professional organizations, researchers, projects and donors with whom collaboration can be sought.

This would benefit the sea turtle, the mangrove and the conservation organizations in Suriname.