Reserva Natural Estero Padre Ramos lies on the Northern Pacific coast of Nicaragua, near the border of Honduras. This area was recently discovered to be an important nesting area for the critically endangered Eastern Pacific Hawksbill, a population teetering on the edge of extinction. The only other known Hawksbill nesting area of this magnitude in the entire Eastern Pacific is to the north, in the nearby country of El Salvador.
This year Marine Biologist and my guide for the next couple of days, FFI's Jose Urteaga, began collaborating with the local community of fishermen here in Padre Ramos to begin a nest protection program for the Hawksbill. Jose is Fauna & Flora International's Nicaragua Program Manager and was named one of National Geographic's 2010 Emerging Explorers for his sea turtle conservation work in Nicaragua.
Padre Ramos, a small remote fishing community has, up to this point, collected the Hawksbill eggs for sale and consumption. Now the locals, once poachers, have become conservationists, protecting the nests and hoping to draw visitors to see this critically important area while improving the livelihoods of the locals and protecting their natural resources. The Eastern Pacific Hawksbill population is so low that scientists aren't even sure how many remain. The Hawksbill has historically, and continues to be, hunted for its beautiful shell used to make jewelry and other ornaments. Pressure from poaching has only accelerated their decline.
My journey to Padre Ramos begins in the bustling capital city of Managua and takes me through small towns framed by lush green and dotted with banana and sugar cane plantations, with towering volcanoes in the distance. The area that we are headed to sits on the edge of a mangrove system. Here the Hawksbill travels inland, nesting on small estuary islands. The only other place Hawksbills are known to do this is in El Salvador. Elsewhere, they nest on ocean beaches like other sea turtle species.
As we board a small boat to explore the area, I am delighted by the natural beauty of this place - with the ocean to my left, the mangroves before me, and the towering volcano to my right that is actively smoking. We visit the two main nesting islands here. As I walk the beaches I imagine the Hawksbill, under the cover of darkness, hauling herself up high onto the beach and into the vegetation to lay her precious clutch of pearl-shaped eggs. This time of year though only remnants remain on the beach of her presence, empty eggshells that once held her tiny offspring.
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| Isla La Tigra - A Hawksbill nesting beach |
During the nesting season locals are monitoring and tagging the nesting females that come here to lay eggs and managing a hatchery where the eggs are guarded around the clock. During the first season of the project (2010), 280 nests were protected, an impressive number for a Hawksbill beach that was relatively unknown to researchers just a year ago, and for such an endangered population.
We return to the town where I am warmly greeted by the locals who welcome me and are interested in my visit to Padre Ramos. They are hopeful that their new lives as conservationists will bring good things to this small community that once not long ago, exploited the turtles unsustainably. Feeling inspired by their enthusiasm, I hope to return to Padre Ramos in June, during the peak of the nesting season, to volunteer my time and get my hands sandy.
For information about volunteering on a sea turtle conservation project, please see our website for details.
For more information about the status of the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill see ICAPO -the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative website.
Paula von Weller
Research Associate
SEE Turtles
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