Sea Turtle Recovery Action Plan for Barbados - WIDECAST

4.123 Provide for enforcement of guidelines
Barbados Sea Turtles …
Enforcement is the responsibility of the Royal Barbados Police Force, the Barbados
Coast Guard, and to a lesser extent the National Conservation Commission (NCC). These
agencies have recently been sensitized to the legislation pertaining to sea turtles. Enforcement of
legislation protecting turtles and their nesting and feeding habitats should be shared between the
police, Coast Guard and, ultimately, trained coastal zone rangers. The National Conservation
Commission already employs personnel with limited powers of arrest for offences committed on
beaches; e.g., selling goods or services on a beach without an appropriate license. Training NCC
personnel to assist the Barbados Police Force to enforce legislation protecting nesting turtles and
their eggs would be very valuable.
4.124 Develop educational materials
Since no specific area or zone for official protection has been designated to date, it is
desirable that citizens throughout the country continue to be made aware of efforts to conserve
turtles and be told what they can do to assist these efforts. A number of pamphlets, books,
posters and car stickers are already in circulation in Barbados, and these are supplemented by
radio and television broadcasts throughout the sea turtle breeding season (section 4.41). In the
past, the Barbados Environmental Association has surveyed the beaches of the whole island once
a month during the breeding season. They are planning to repeat these surveys and to encourage
the public to participate. The Association is seeking funding to produce posters targeting tourists
at the airport and sea port, advising them against buying turtle products (section 4.43). They are
also planning to make a wildlife documentary of Barbados that will include a section on sea
turtles.
4.13 Prevent or mitigate degradation of nesting beaches
4.131 Sand mining
The chronic removal of sand from nesting beaches accelerates erosion and degrades or
destroys beach vegetation either by removal or by salt water inundation. In severe cases, saline
ponds are formed in unsightly pits left by mining operations. With the loss of sandy beaches, the
coast's potential to support recreation, wildlife (e.g., sea turtles), tourism, and commercial
development is reduced. It is presently illegal to remove sand from the foreshore of Barbados,
and specific areas adjoining the foreshore have been identified for protection against sand mining
(section 4.21). Recently, however, the illegal removal of sand from beaches (e.g., Long Beach,
which is reported to be an important hawksbill nesting area) has been observed. It is the
recommendation of this Recovery Action Plan that the law banning the removal of sand from
beaches be enforced diligently.
4.132 Lights
Beach front lighting is a serious cause of mortality among hawksbill hatchlings, and may
also be a deterrent to nesting females. Sea turtle hatchlings orient to the sea using light; that is,
using the brightness of the open seaward horizon as their primary cue. As many as 100% of the
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